The Fullness Of Truth Apostolate

"What a Man Sows, That He Will Also Reap"

2012-03-04T15:17:00.052-05:00

Several years ago, when the homosexual "marriage" dilemma was at its peak in Massachusetts, Bishop Dupre of the Springfield diocese instructed all of his priests to preach against it. Suddenly, out of the blue, on a single weekend they were to form a united army of preachers who would courageously denounce this violation of the natural law, and instruct the faithful in the nature and purposes of true marriage. At the time I thought to myself, "I'm sorry, Your Excellency, but you're forty years too late!"

In other words, after a full forty years of virtual silence in the Catholic pulpit, how were our priests - lacking all experience in proclaiming the morals of Catholicism and exhorting the faithful to follow the high road, rather than the world's - how were our priests to know how to preach on such a contoversial topic? After forty years of silence, why were the faithful expected to receive such preaching and offer their submission to it? And after forty years of watching so-called Catholic politicians openly oppose the most fundamental moral teachings of the Church in their professional lives, and yet, receive Holy Communion from the hands of their bishops, why should the faithful feel that they themselves should be bound to accept such teachings? Is this not a double-standard?

Since my return to the Church in 1990 - and including my memories of twelve years of Catholic schooling - I have observed what I can only call a dysfunctional family or a terribly mismanaged business. If the mission of the Church is to teach, sanctify, and govern the faithful, then the modern Church has utterly failed in her mission. The primary cause of this failure has been the monolithic absence of sound Catholic teaching - from the pulpit and in the classroom - regarding both doctrines and morals. Who has heard, for example, a homily on heaven, hell, or purgatory, or on the sinfulness of contraception, homosexual acts, or divorce and remarriage? Who has heard substantial excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church? I dare say that a Catholic who has attended Mass regularly for decades probably has never heard homilies on such topics, and may be unaware that the new catechism even exists, twenty years after the fact!

The result of this doctrinal and moral blackout is a predictable ignorance of the Catholic faith by those who call themselves "Catholic." Hence, to call oneself "Catholic" is now to imply nothing whatsoever about one's religious faith or practice. It is to imply, neither that one believes what the Catholic Church teaches, nor that one lives in accord with Catholic morals, nor that one votes, socializes, or does business in accord with Catholic principles, nor even that one attends Mass on Sundays. By modern standards, Jehovah's Witnesses could just as legitimately call themselves "Catholic." To say today that one is a Catholic is literally to say nothing at all. The scandal of scandals, then, is this decades-long absence of authentic Catholic instruction and formation that now constitutes modern Catholicism. Is this enlightenment by default? No, it is good old-fashioned ignorance of the most dangerous kind.

In light of this, two questions should be asked. First, what did Bishop Dupre expect would come from those homilies preached on one weekend against homosexual "marriage?" Was it that Catholics in the diocese of Springfield would suddenly recognize the atrocity of homosexual "marriage" and, as a single body, unite in opposition against it? And second, now that the Catholic Church in America is faced with an even graver dilemma regarding the Obama administration's and the HHS's assault on religious freedom, are Catholics in America expected to follow the lead of their bishops?

The answer to the first question is a simple matter of the record: homosexual "marriage" is now legal in Massachusetts, and Catholics bear much of the responsibility for it. The answer to the second question is sadly related. Why should Catholics, whom priests and bishops have scandalously left uninstructed in even the rudiments of both natural law and revealed positive law, agree that the use of contraceptives, abortifacients, and sterilization is gravely immoral? Why? Or perhaps even more, how? How can the uninstructed see what they have not been shown? How can they know and understand what they have not been taught? Is it not contrary to all logic to expect that those who have been formed by the world and neglected by the Church should now side with the Church, in opposition to the world? It makes no sense whatsoever to expect this.

I fully agree with the bishops' opposition to the government's demand that all agencies and organizations must provide for their employees insurance coverage that includes free contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization. Yes, I agree, and I applaud them all for rising to the challenge. But I agree...in spite of them, not because of them. I agree with them, due to the Catholic formation I sought for myself, and not because of the Catholic formation they and their priests gave me. For they gave me no such thing, so that it is a miracle I am a Catholic today. Praise be to Jesus Christ!

It is a terribly sad question to ask, but I must ask it: Do the bishops really expect the faithful to stand with them? I hope to God the faithful do, but I fear that substantial numbers will not, and that, as a direct result, the mad man in the White House will prevail over us. If he does, it will be due to the countless Catholics in the Church today who haven't a care for Catholic teaching, and who are therefore content to stand idle while religious freedom, the liberty to live in accord with one's conscience, is stolen from us.

An army comprised of generals only cannot win a war. Generals need infantry to fight. The Catholic Church appears to be such an army with plenty of generals, but frighteningly few infantry. For basic training was never offered. As a result, even those few who have volunteered for this army can hardly recognize the sounds of an approaching battle.

Apparently, it is no secret that Catholics are ignorant of Church teaching, and that they quite openly live contrary to it. It is apparent, also, that there are few consequences in the Church for doing so, little reason to fear an excommunication from a bishop, or that a priest will withhold Holy Communion. President Obama knows this, and he knows also that the bishops - still reeling from the sex scandals - have lost nearly all their credibility as leaders in the eyes of the faithful. Hence, President Obama seized the moment. This was his golden opportunity to assault the Church, her weakest moment in centuries, due to her own failings.

President Obama's current strategy happens also to be the devil's most ancient and effective technique: namely, divide and conquer. Divide the faithful from their priests and bishops, and let the leaders of the Church be hung out to dry. Since the government cannot remove the apostolic authority of the bishops, simply invite the masses to ignore it. For a house divided cannot stand.

Saint Paul warned,

"Mark this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (2 Cor. 9:6).

The modern Church in America may be about to reap what she has sparingly sown for the past forty years. Our priests and bishops in particular may soon reap what they have sown - or rather, what they have not sown.

I pray every day that the unexpected and the illogical may happen. I pray that the Catholic faithful may stand with their priests and bishops, and that, as one united body, we may force this wicked administration to withdraw its arrogant assault on religion in general, and on the Catholic Church in particular.

False Prophets for All to See

2012-02-12T11:52:00.035-05:00

One of the oldest and most cherished of accusations thrown at the Catholic Church by Bible Christians is based on the Book of Revelation: namely, she is the "Whore of Babylon," while the Pope is the "Antichrist." Volumes could be written collecting the nearly countless instances in which - from Martin Luther, to the Jehovah's Witnesses, to modern Fundamentalists - these charges have been thrown at the Church of Christ. In a more contemporary version of the same theme, it is now claimed that the Catholic Church will finally head the coming one world government, or that the Pope will soon be proclaimed leader of the United Nations. Such have been the claims, for example, of radio preachers R. G. Stair and Chuck Crismier.

False prophets and end-of-times preachers are a dime a dozen; they're everywhere, peddling their wares through the media to the excitable and gullible, keeping alive the old-fashioned American tradition of anti-Catholicism. Holy Scripture gives us counsel regarding the whole lot of them:

"If you say to yourselves, 'How can we recognize an oracle which the Lord has spoken?', know that, even though a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if his oracle is not fulfilled or verified, it is an oracle which the Lord did not speak. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, and you shall have no fear of him" (Dt. 18:21-22).

In light of this passage, our modern vociferous anti-Catholic preachers are exposed as the false prophets that God has specifically counseled us not to fear. Let me explain.

The present assault by the Obama administration on religious freedom is ultimately an attack - not only on Christians in general - but on Catholics in particular. It is the Catholic Church, above all other religious bodies, that is widely known to be uncompromisingly opposed to abortion, contraception, and sterilization. This conviction is neither a mere tradition of the Church nor an opinion of conservative Catholics. Rather, it is the defined teaching of the Church, as held for a full two thousand years. To be Catholic is to oppose these three sins against life and sexual purity; whereas, to consider them morally licit is to cease being Catholic in any serious or meaningful way.

Perhaps President Obama and the HHS will ultimately back down, in response to the recent unexpected Catholic uprising. Or, perhaps they will not. Regardless, a truth has been revealed, and we must not pass over it.

The fact is, the teachings of the Catholic Church are clearly opposed to the spirit of our times. Two powers - that of the Church and that of the state - have been revealed as diametrically opposed to each other regarding right and wrong, good and evil. However this present situation may, or may not, be resolved, a premonition of times to come has been seen by all. The state will one day unleash a merciless assault on the Catholic Church, and her teachings - as well as the Holy Mass itself - will be rendered illegal. This may come at first under the guise of hate-speech legislation, a "woman's right", or some other perversion of justice and reason. But positively, this mass persecution of the Church by the state will arrive, and the saints, for the time being, will be overcome by it. We are presently seeing only the beginning of this, but it is a beginning.

No, Mr. Stair and Mr. Crismier, the Catholic Church will not head the coming one world government, nor will the Pope be made leader of the United Nations. These are the demonstrable false prophecies of false prophets. Just the opposite will happen, and is already happening for all to see. The Church will be persecuted by the one world government. Hence, she is not growing in worldly power and prestige; she is shrinking. Her last Pope was shot twice in an assassination attempt, and the presently reigning Pope - the man who speaks softly but adamently to the world of hope and charity, but warns of the rising dictatorship of relativism - is regarded as a backward lunatic. His visitations to various countries are often met with demonstrations. The Church's teachings are being increasingly opposed by modern governments and political organizations, including the UN. In China, she has virtually been driven underground, while in many Islamic countries, her buildings are being burned to the ground and her people constantly threatened. In western countries, she is hated and publicly mocked by the adulated icons of entertainment and culture. Radical feminism considers her a demon. Science, medicine, and education now offer an atheistic resistance to her philosophical ideas and the solutions she offers to modern man's moral dilemmas. And at the same time, a revived paganism in the west is resolved to take the Church's place in the spiritual lives of the masses. The Catholic Church is slowly entering that era - however far ahead it may be - when the very powers of hell will be unleashed upon her. But she has always known that this awaits her, in accord with God's plan. So, the Catechism forewarns,

"The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his bride to come down from heaven" (CCC 677).

In the end, the Church will not experience a "progressive ascendancy." She will not grow in size, wealth, and influence with worldly powers, nor will she sit as the head of governments. Such are the claims of the false prophets who are blinded by their hatred for her. Their "prophecies" are presently being shown to be a bag of noxious wind, so that we must not fear them. On the contrary, we have seen that the Church is no friend of oppressive godless governments that seek to deprive its citizens of religious freedom or the right to life. And for this she will dearly pay. She will be hated by all, in imitation of the Suffering Servant who established her to be His presence in the world until He returns. And then He will judge the world and its false prophets and preachers.

A Contrast of Presidential Proclamations on Thanksgiving Day

2011-11-24T13:30:00.007-05:00

PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1789

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor - and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be – That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks – for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation – for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war – for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed – for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions – to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually – to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed – to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord – To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us – and generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York, the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

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PRESIDENTIAL PROCLAMATION OF BARACK OBAMA, 2011

One of our nation’s oldest and most cherished traditions, Thanksgiving Day brings us closer to our loved ones and invites us to reflect on the blessings that enrich our lives. The observance recalls the celebration of an autumn harvest centuries ago, when the Wampanoag tribe joined the Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony to share in the fruits of a bountiful season. The feast honored the Wampanoag for generously extending their knowledge of local game and agriculture to the Pilgrims, and today we renew our gratitude to all American Indians and Alaska Natives. We take this time to remember the ways that the first Americans have enriched our nation’s heritage, from their generosity centuries ago to the everyday contributions they make to all facets of American life. As we come together with friends, family and neighbors to celebrate, let us set aside our daily concerns and give thanks for the providence bestowed upon us.

Though our traditions have evolved, the spirit of grace and humility at the heart of Thanksgiving has persisted through every chapter of our story. When President George Washington proclaimed our country’s first Thanksgiving, he praised a generous and knowing God for shepherding our young republic through its uncertain beginnings. Decades later, President Abraham Lincoln looked to the divine to protect those who had known the worst of civil war, and to restore the nation “to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union.’’

In times of adversity and times of plenty, we have lifted our hearts by giving humble thanks for the blessings we have received and for those who bring meaning to our lives. Today, let us offer gratitude to our men and women in uniform for their many sacrifices, and keep in our thoughts the families who save an empty seat at the table for a loved one stationed in harm’s way. And as members of our American family make do with less, let us rededicate ourselves to our friends and fellow citizens in need of a helping hand.

As we gather in our communities and in our homes, around the table or near the hearth, we give thanks to each other and to God for the many kindnesses and comforts that grace our lives. Let us pause to recount the simple gifts that sustain us, and resolve to pay them forward in the year to come.

Now, therefore, I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 24, 2011, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage the people of the United States to come together — whether in our homes, places of worship, community centers, or any place of fellowship for friends and neighbors — to give thanks for all we have received in the past year, to express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and to share our bounty with others.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of November, in the year of our Lord 2011, and of the independence of the United States of America the 236th.

BARACK OBAMA

"The Pope Supports Occupy Wall Street!"

2011-10-25T16:31:00.014-04:00

Nope. That's what the political and religious left are claiming; that's what the uninformed media are reporting; that's what Fr. Tom Reese's interview wrongly gave the appearance of, but it's not the case.

The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace recently released a statement entitled, “Towards Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of the Global Public Authority.” It is not from the pope, but from a council. Catholics are in no way bound to accept its contents, except those statements which already belong to Catholic social teaching. Nor must the faithful accept its proposed solutions.

The document is meant in part to offer guidance to countries taking part in an upcoming early November G-20 summit on the world economy in Cannes, France. It presents principles of genuine Catholic social teaching, in the hope of influencing governments to make decisions founded on moral, rather than merely monetary or practical, concerns. Bishop Toso, secretary of the council, said,

"The Church does not wish to enter into the technical issues behind the current economic crisis, but remains within the ambit of her religious and ethical functions. Thus she highlights not just the moral causes of the crisis but, more specifically, the ideological causes. Old ideologies have been replaced by new ones, neo-liberalist, neo-utilitarian, and technocratic which, by reducing the common good to economic, financial and technical questions, place the future of democratic institutions themselves at risk."

For those who like to be informed by the facts, rather than deformed by the media, here's a link to the actual document.

October 22, 2011

2011-10-21T10:20:00.020-04:00

In some parts of the world, the sun has already risen on an uneventful Saturday morning. It's October 22 in New Zealand and - exactly as Harold Camping predicted - all is very very quiet.

Many peoples' lives throughout the world have been ruined and their hopes crushed. Having followed yet another end of times false prophet, they must - with the embarrassment of May 21 still stinging - again bear the burden and shame of their abject gullibility. Camping, with his international radio broadcasts heard in multiple languages throughout the world on shortwave and satelite radio, has made fools of them, utter biblical fools.

If ever there was a time for a "mea culpa," it is today. But I suppose, being a Biblical Fundamentalist, Mr. Camping would find such a public act of contrition to be a "good work" in conflict with his biblical theology. So we won't expect to hear one from him.

Following the standard false prophet protocol, we should expect Mr. Camping to go into hiding for a period of time, and then later to appear, undaunted in his confident grasp of Scripture, with an explanation for his sheep as to how his calculations simply need to be slightly "adjusted." And, of course, there will be the additional commentary, richly spiced with biblical quotations, as to why the sheep should continue to heed his future warnings concerning the end of the world. Or perhaps - God willing - the man will have a fit of common sense and retire from the false prophet business, having made his money.

What most frustrates me about this is that another Christian has given the world a perfectly reasonable excuse to laugh at Christianity, to mock Christians, and to ridicule the Christian Bible. And this concerns - not a sex scandal, not the depravity of individual molesters and those who turn a blind eye to their acts - but the actual practice of reading and interpreting Holy Scripture. Protestantism, with its inherent divisiveness, has already done enough damage in this field, but the Mr. Camping scandal takes this evil work a step further. It shows that Christians are not only divided amongst themselves, but that the manner in which they practice their religion is actually dangerous, that it can ruin innocent lives.

If you were a militant anti-Christian, would you not take full advantage of this opportunity? Would you not organize with other like-minded persons and call for the passing of laws that forbid public Bible reading and teaching? Militant atheism is already willing and able to do this, and Mr. Camping's scandal will only make the effort appear more practical and necessary. Alas, we are reaping the fruit of the private interpretation of Holy Scripture, of using the Bible appart from the one true Church that gave us the New Testament and that rightly understands and interprets it. The Catholic Church, even as she calmly and confidently awaits the arrival of the end times, does not make predictions about them. It is her conviction that, when they truly arrive, the fact will be undeniably apparent to all the faithful who have courage, good will, and understanding.

Now, why am I so confident that the end of the world has not yet arrived? Am I simply presuming that, because Mr. Camping is a Protestant he must therefore be wrong, and because I'm a Catholic I must therefore be right? It's even simpler than this. The fact is, we can be certain the immediate end times are not yet upon us because the signs of the end, which Scripture says must first be fulfilled, have not yet appeared. At the very least, these include a tremendous falling away of the faithful, the mass conversion of the Jews, and the appearance of the Antichrist.

In terms of the first sign, many people feel the last forty years of mayhem in the Catholic Church are this prophecied falling away. I'm tempted to agree with this view, but Scripture suggests a far more severe falling away, such as will make the last forty years appear, by comparison, like a golden age of Catholicism. I believe the Church will be fractured by a schism, possibly due to a false apparition, or even many false apparitions. We can already see among many Catholics an unhealthy fixation with such apparent signs and wonders, and a tendency to disregard the Church's warnings about them.

Regarding the second sign, although there have been a number of Jewish conversions to the Christian faith, these in no way amount to a mass movement that accepts Jesus Christ as the Messiah.

Regarding the third sign, it seems to me the appearance of the Antichrist is awaiting a number of important developments. One that must be mentiomed is presently being called by a highly euphemistic term - the "Arab Spring." In truth, the so-called Arab Spring is actually the rise of Islam, and, therefore, the winter of Christianity. I think it's absurd to believe that, with so horrid an evil rising in the east, the world would suddenly end without Satan having made full use of it. Indeed, something terrible is rising in the east, something that has its eyes looking excitedly to the west, to the fractured remains of Christendom. There is a blood-soaked program yet to be fulfilled before God allows His saints to be overcome by the final deception and persecution of the Antichrist.

For these reasons, I do not fear in the least the claims of Harold Camping, nor of any other self-proclaimed "prophet." The signs of the end have not yet appeared.

"If you say to yourselves, 'How can we recognize an oracle which the Lord has spoken?', know that, even though the prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if his oracle is not fulfilled or verified, it is an oracle which the Lord did not speak. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously, and you shall have no fear of him" (Dt. 18:21-22).

In other words, be it Harold Camping, the Jehovah's Witnesses, or any other individual or group, do not give a false prophet a second chance.

[Update: Harold Camping has officially retired from Family Radio, and will no longer be heard on the air. Without making any public statements, he recently admitted to a supporter that no one can know beforehand the exact day on which the world will end. Family Radio has also quietly removed from its web site all references to Camping's recent predictions. Nevertheless, donations are still being happily accepted by major credit cards, debit cards, personal checks, or bank wire transfer.]

Update On Harold Camping's Predictions

2011-10-19T14:59:00.030-04:00

After Harold Camping of "Family Radio" wrongly predicted that the world would end on May 21, 2011, the Bible preacher offered the following explanation:

"What really happened this past May 21st? What really happened is that God accomplished exactly what He wanted to happen. That was to warn the whole world that on May 21 God's salvation program would be finished on that day. For the next five months, except for the elect (the true believers), the whole world is under God's final judgment. To accomplish this goal God withheld from the true believers the way in which two phases were to be understood. Had He not done so, the world would never have been shaken in fear as it was."

According to this explanation, the final phase of the end of the world will be completed on October 21, 2011. On the verge of this date, Mr. Camping has issued a last warning from his "Family Radio" web site.

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“I do believe that we’re getting very near the very end. We have not known, we’ve learned that there’s a lot of things that we didn’t have quite right, and that’s God’s good provision. If He had not kept us from knowing everything that we didn’t know, we would not have been able to be used of Him to bring about the tremendous event that occurred on May 21 of this year, and which probably will be finished out on October 21 and is coming in very shortly. That looks like it will be at this point, it looks like it will be the final end of everything.

But it also looks like, that as God is developing the details, or as we are learning from the Bible God’s details of the end, we find that God is not a respecter of persons, He has no ‘pleasure in the death of the wicked.’ Some of the most wicked in the world, like the son of David, who rebelled against and David cried out, ‘I wish it was me, rather than he,’ – that was Absolam, who we read quite a bit about in the Bible, and it encourages us to believe that all of our unsaved loved ones will not receive special vengeance of God at all. God says, ‘Vengeance is mine.’ And that means that He’s going to apply the vengeance that He wants to apply. And when we study the historical record of His application of vengeance, taking, for example, as a prime illustration, the son of David who rebelled and wanted to take the throne, and then saw David weeping and wailing over him, we must believe that probably, there will be no pain suffered by any one because of their rebellion against God.

This is very comforting to all of us because we all have children, and we have loved ones that are dear to us, that we know are not saved. And yet, we know that they’ll quietly die. We can become more and more assured that they’ll quietly die, and that will be the end of their story. Whereas, the true believers will quietly receive the new heaven and the new earth.

I’m really beginning to think, as I re-study these matters, that there’s going to be no big display of any kind, that the end is going to come very very quietly, probably within the next month. It will happen, that is, by October 21.”

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Here's a quick summary of the above, in case you've got a headache from trying to make sense of it.

- On May 21, 2011, the end of the world quietly began

- On October 21, 2011, the end of the world will quietly conclude

- On the same date, those who are saved will quietly inherit a new heaven and a new earth

- Meanwhile, the rest of humanity will either quietly die and be annihilated or else die and go to hell for eternity

- This is very comforting

It's very comforting that our loved ones will either be quietly annihilated or else quietly go to hell? Perhaps I'm not yet the sort of Bible Christian that can appreciate this sort of extreme comfort.

The end of the world will allegedly arrive this Friday. For Harold Camping's response to the continuation of the world on Saturday and thereafter, see the Family Radio web site.

Please pray for this poor man, who should be enjoying the dignity of his old age, rather than humiliating himself and his family with these false predictions.

Classes in Catholicism

2011-10-05T15:44:00.011-04:00

Catholic Apologetics classes are being held in the evenings from 7:00-8:30 in three different locations: on Mondays at the Saint Joseph’s Residence in Enfield, CT, on Tuesdays at Christ the King Parish in Ludlow, MA, and on Fridays at Mary Farm in Palmer, MA. Each of these classes is relatively small – from five to about twelve people - so we have plenty of room for new students.

Catholic Apologetics is a four-year course that teaches students how to explain and defend Catholic teaching. Students are welcome to take as much or as little of the four years as they choose.

In addition, another class entitled, The Fundamentals of Catholicism, is being held on the first and third Thursday evenings of the month from 7:00-8:30 at Holy Trinity Parish in Westfield. This course is an introduction to the essential teachings of the Church, and is open to any person – Catholic, fallen-away Catholic, or non-Catholic – who is seriously interested in learning about the Catholic faith. If you have been thinking about returning to the Church, or have wanted to ask a few questions about the faith but were hesitant to speak directly to a priest, this class would be a fine place to begin.

Please consider taking either of these courses. For more information, call The Fullness Of Truth Apostolate at (413) 568-4429.

Pope Benedict's Letter on 9/11

2011-09-11T11:01:00.005-04:00

To my Venerable Brother
The Most Reverend Timothy M. Dolan
President
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. On this day my thoughts turn to the somber events. of September 11, 2001, when so many innocent lives were lost in the brutal assault on the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the further attacks in Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. I join you in commending the thousands of victims to the infinite mercy of Almighty God and in asking our heavenly Father to continue to console those who mourn the loss of loved ones.

The tragedy of that day is compounded by the perpetrators' claim to be acting in God's name. Once again, it must be unequivocally stated that no circumstances can ever justify acts of terrorism. Every hunan life is precious in God's sight and no effort should be spared in the attempt to promote throughout the world a genuine respect for the inalienable rights and dignity of individuals and peoples everywhere.

The American people are to be commended for the courage and generosity that they showed in the rescue operations and for their resilience in moving forward with hope and confidence. It is my fervent prayer that a firm commitment to justice and a global culture of solidarity will help rid the world of the grievances that so often give rise to acts of violence and will create the conditions for greater peace and prosperity, offering a brighter and more secure future.

With these sentiments, I extend my most affectionate greetings to you, your brother Bishops, and all those entrusted to your pastoral care, and I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace and serenity in the Lord.

From the Vatican, September 11, 2011

Benedict XVI

Quote of the Century

2011-08-31T13:02:00.030-04:00

In a letter addressed to Cardinal Jozef Tomko, concerning the 600th anniversary of the Eucharistic miracle of Ludbreg, Croatia, Pope benedict XVI wrote the following:

"Without the Eucharist we cannot be true Christians and the Church cannot be built up for the salvation of men."

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Thank you, Holy Father. Thank you for breaking the silence with this unavoidable conclusion: to have the Holy Eucharist is to have Jesus, and therefore, to lack the Holy Eucharist is to lack Jesus. And what sort of a Christian lacks Jesus? This truth has been abandoned with an absurd sense of moral duty by the ecumaniacs among us. An amorphous "Mere Christianity" has prevailed for fifty years in the Church, and in its service the treasures of Catholicism have been forgotten and even denied. First and foremost among these treasures is the Real Presence of Christ among the faithful in the Holy Eucharist. This supernatural Presence is the apex of Catholicism, the very highest point that it reaches, and the most superlative grace that it offers. And yet, due to a perfectly perverse notion of ecumenism, Catholics of all ranks have fallen silent regarding this treasure, lest, in mentioning it to other Christians who lack it, they might disturb the peace.

The Holy Eucharist is positively central to the Christian religion. It is not a theological nuance or a denominational detail. It is not a curious notion from a particular school of thought, merely worth mentioning in a course on the fundamentals of Christianity. The Holy Eucharist is a fundamental of the ancient faith. To neglect it is to neglect that which is the immediate result of our Lord's atoning Passion and death, the means by which we may have the most intimate relationship with Christ possible, this side of heaven.

Why did Christ become incarnate? So that He might walk among us. And why did He die? So that, following the Redemption, He might remain among us as the one true adorable God. Yes, Christ became man and died in order to give us Himself in the Holy Eucharist. This is not an extraneous detail to be tacked on to some Alpha program; it is a fundamental tenet of the Catholic faith.

To deny the Holy Eucharist, then, is to deny, not an object or an idea, but a Person, the Savior of the world. To show indifference or irreverence towards it is to commit sacrilege. To mock it is to be guilty of direct blasphemy. And to remain silent about it for fear of causing friction between Catholics and Protestants is to avoid the Gospel itself as a method for bringing unity among Christians.

Catholics - break the shameful silence and tell the world about the Holy Eucharist. Tell those searching for God, or looking for His return, that God is here and waiting to be adored and received by them. Shout from the housetops. Denounce these last fifty years of religious indifference and cowardice, and courageously declare with our pope,

"Without the Eucharist we cannot be true Christians and the Church cannot be built up for the salvation of men!"

Sheep In The Midst Of Wolves

2011-07-05T23:03:00.042-04:00

Here is the official statement from the Society Of Our Lady Of The Most Holy Trinity (SOLT), the religious order to which Fr. John Corapi belongs. Take a deep breath before you read this.

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"From: Rev. Gerard Sheehan, SOLT Regional Priest Servant Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Robstown, Texas.

Fr. John A. Corapi submitted his resignation from the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity ("SOLT") early in June. SOLT is a Society of Apostolic Life of Diocesan Right with its regional office in Robstown, Texas.

While SOLT does not typically comment publicly on personnel matters, it recognizes that Fr. John Corapi, through his ministry, has inspired thousands of faithful Catholics, many of whom continue to express their support of him. SOLT also recognizes that Fr. Corapi is now misleading these individuals through his false statements and characterizations. It is for these Catholics that SOLT, by means of this announcement, seeks to set the record straight.

A woman, well known to Fr. John Corapi, mailed SOLT a signed letter detailing allegations of Fr. Corapi's sexual activity with adult women, abuse of alcohol and drugs, improper sacramental practices, violation of his promise of poverty, and other wrongdoing.

After receiving the allegation, SOLT formed a three person fact-finding team to ensure that it handled this matter in accordance with canonical norms. The team included a priest-canonist, a psychiatrist, and a lawyer. Two were members of religious orders, and one was a lay Catholic. Two were men, and one was a woman. All three have national reputations and substantial experience in ecclesiastical processes related to priest disciplinary issues.

As the Society was engaging this team, Fr. Corapi filed a civil lawsuit against his principal accuser. He contended that she had defamed him and breached her contract. The contract, according to Corapi's lawsuit, contained a provision binding the woman to silence about him. He offered the woman $100,000 to enter this agreement.

SOLT's fact-finding team subsequently learned that Fr. Corapi may have negotiated contracts with other key witnesses that precluded them from speaking with SOLT's fact-finding team. Many of these witnesses likely had key information about the accusations being investigated and declined to answer questions and provide documents.

When the fact-finding team asked Fr. Corapi to dismiss the lawsuit, to forbear from foreclosing his mortgage, and to release her and other individuals from their contractual obligations to remain silent about him, he refused to do so and, through his canonical advocate, stated: "It is not possible for Father Corapi to answer the Commission's questions at this time."

SOLT's fact-finding team has acquired information from Fr. Corapi's e-mails, various witnesses, and public sources that, together, state that, during his years of public ministry:

He did have sexual relations and years of cohabitation (in California and Montana) with a woman known to him, when the relationship began, as a prostitute; He repeatedly abused alcohol and drugs; He has recently engaged in sexting activity with one or more women in Montana; He holds legal title to over $1 million in real estate, numerous luxury vehicles, motorcycles, an ATV, a boat dock, and several motor boats, which is a serious violation of his promise of poverty as a perpetually professed member of the Society.

SOLT has contemporaneously with the issuance of this press release directed Fr. John Corapi, under obedience, to return home to the Society’s regional office and take up residence there. It has also ordered him, again under obedience, to dismiss the lawsuit he has filed against his accuser.

SOLT's prior direction to Fr. John Corapi not to engage in any preaching or teaching, the celebration of the sacraments or other public ministry continues. Catholics should understand that SOLT does not consider Fr. John Corapi as fit for ministry.

Father Sheehan will not be available for comments as he is attending the SOLT General Chapter from July 5-23."

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A deception of this magnitude is almost inconceivable. One has to search to the depths of hell for an explanation as to how one man could so delude his own Church, his countless adulating fans, and perhaps himself as well. The Catholic priesthood has suffered yet another terrible attack to its reputation - this time from a wolf disguised as a "Black Sheepdog."

Pray for Fr. Corapi; he is a deeply troubled man. Pray for the Church; she is being splintered into a multiplicity of schisms and factions that follow this supposed hero and that alleged apparition. And pray and do penance also for the holy Catholic priesthood itself, which has experienced, these past ten years, diabolical assaults unseen in the history of Christianity.

Satan has followed one course of action over two millenia against the Church: divide and conquer. From the beginning, this strategy has made special use of heresies - which, of course, imply the heretics who invented them. In our own day, heresy remains an effective tool in the devil's toolbox. However, in his superlative devotion to the cause of destroyng man and the Church, the devil has always adapted to the times. Due primarily to the capabilities of our age of information and its technological advances, there is a new weapon being employed from the devil's arsenal. It is the ability - by means of modern media - to construct ideological demi-gods of Olympian proportions, and then, after countless souls have placed their faith and hope in these mythological images, to destroy them in scandal.

Millions of people indulge in hero worship. We're very prone to it in the Catholic Church - and rightly so - since God has blessed us over the ages with countles saints and martyrs worthy of our veneration - though not our worship. But in the modern world, heroes and heroines utterly unworthy of veneration can be manufactured, dry-brushed of all visible human frailties, and then glorified to the heavens. No doubt, this ability will be capitalized on one day by the Antichrist, who will draw after himself the greater part of humanity in a deceptive scheme of unity, such as the world already desires.

This tendency to adulate other human beings - as much as it may seen to be a virtue related to trust and charity - is extremely dangerous to one's spiritual welfare. And I dare say, it is often due to a lack of faith in God. "In God alone be at rest, my soul."

The following teaching is familiar, but the lesson in many ways has been lost on us. Responding to a question posed by a doctor of the Mosaic Law, Jesus answered,

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets" (Mt. 22:37-40).

In Christianity, the love for God is the first and foremost virtue, and the love for others is the second. This order must never be reversed. It has been divinely revealed - not only the words, but their all-important order as well. We are to love God Almighty in such a way and to a degree that is incomparable to the affection we feel towards any other human being. When this order of charity is violated, individual persons do harm to themselves, and humanity does terrible harm to itself.

In the history of humanity, there have been only two perfect persons: the Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. Our Lady is a human person worthy of the highest veneration; Jesus Christ is a Divine Person worthy of full adoration and worship. Mary's perfection was manifested in her supreme and selfless love for her Son. I would suggest to all Catholics who are prone to modern hero worship that - in imitation of Our Lady - you arrest your search for the next human idol and invest your deepest love entirely in the God-man, Jesus Christ. He will not disappoint you. He is not a product of the media; He has not been dry-brushed by software; He does not tweet or sext; He will not be exposed as a fraud. He is the God through whom you were created, redeemed, and sanctified, and by Him alone can you be saved. And in the unity of the Most Holy Trinity, He is the only Man worthy of our faith, hope, and charity.

Mister John Corapi?!

2011-06-19T19:32:00.060-04:00

On Trinity Sunday, Father's Day, and the twentieth anniversary of his priestly ordination, the famous EWTN preacher, Fr. John Corapi, stunned his many fans and followers with the announcement,

"I am not going to be involved in public ministry as a priest any longer. There are certain persons in authority in the Church that want me gone, and I shall be gone"

His decision follows sexual and drug-related accusations made by a former employee. Concerning her, Father said,

"The present complaint that you have heard about is, as far as I know, from the one person that I can honestly say I did more to help and support than any human being in my entire life."

As a result of the accusations, Father has been on administrative leave for three or four months. Apparently, he fears that Bishop Mulvey of Corpus Christi, Texas, will "leave me suspended indefinitely and just let me fade away." This seems to be the heart of the issue, that his life may be "on hold indefinitely." As a result, Fr. Corapi has decided to "resign from active priestly ministry and religious life" (Statement from EWTN).

Little more is known of the details, other than that Father believes the process for investigating such accusations is extremely unjust. A priest stands little or no chance of fighting a false accusation, or of later reclaiming his name and reputuation if he is vindicated. As he stated,

"Now, based on a totally unsubstantiated, undocumented allegation from a demonstrably troubled person, I was thrown out like yesterday's garbage."

What Father Corapi has revealed clearly is that he will revive his teaching and speaking apostolate, "not just in the Church, but also in the entire world. I am, indeed, not ready to be extinguished."

"Under the name The Black Sheep Dog, I shall be with you through radio broadcasts and writing."

The internet and Catholic blogosphere are ablaze with this story. Predictably, Father's fans are defending him and presuming his innocence, while many others are accusing him of being an international ego maniac. It seems to be too early to know which is the case.

I very seldom listened to Fr. Corapi speak. Once in a while, I would hear his preaching on shortwave radio broadcasting from EWTN. I certainly liked what he said and agreed with it. I especilally liked his boldness - a quality I find altogether absent from the typical parish sermon. It seems to me, though, that he may have succumbed to a common temptation of public figures: image. Fr. Corapi presented himself as the classic guru type - wise, experienced, outspoken, deep-voiced, gray-bearded, and priestly. He embodied the classic sagacious image that many Catholics love to love, especially since the Church lacks such contemporary figures - Pope Benedict aside.

I hope Fr. Corapi has not fallen to this temptation, but my good faith in him is waning, especially as a result of today's announcement. The fact is, something has led him to make the very dramatic decision to abandon his priesthood. On this issue, I strongly disagree with him, and for several reasons.

First, it gives the appearance of guilt; it seems like half of an admission. Rather than quit the sacerdotal cause, could he not fight the good fight on behalf of his innocence and the priesthood itself? This would be the high road and the most responsible scheme, in light of his national reputation and the many souls who have for years looked to him as the ideal priest.

Second, it leaves him just as tainted as do the accusations themselves. In this age of Church scandals, any person that carries even a trace of suspicion is anathema. Retiring definitely looks suspicious. Who would risk associating themselves with such a person, considering the backlash that may follow if it is later proven the person is, in fact, guilty? Certainly it would lead to more cancelled conferences and more tainted reputations, due to an organization's having been associated with an accused priest.

And third - and most disturbingly - that Father would so quickly abandon his priesthood - God's priesthood - makes me question everything I ever knew of or thought about the man. I can't help but wonder at this point, "Was the sage of EWTN a fake, a concoction of modern Catholic media?"

Without belittling one iota the vital importance of sound preaching and teaching, the greatest gift Father Corapi has is his priesthood. It infinitely surpasses his abilities as a speaker and writer. The spiritual power to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and absolve sinnners in the sacrament of Penance far outweighs the value of his work outside of the sanctuary and in the limelight. After only several months of administrative leave, how is it that he is already willing to throw it all away - all except the limelight, that is? This seems utterly contrary to the spirit of his own preaching. Is the priesthood not worth the suffering and the penance of a few months, or many months? Certainly it is, but apparently it is not to Fr. Corapi. Instead, he feels his life is "on hold" and wants to return to it. I find this shocking, especially considering the famously uncompromising message of the man and his legitimate exaltation of the Catholic priesthood.

Considering our Lord's teaching on selflessness and renunciation, is not the life of every Christian in a sense "on hold?" Is not every faithful Catholic offering the salutary price for being a disciple of Jesus Christ, regardless of his or her station or vocation in life? We have all renounced many persons, places, things, activities, and ideas - many wordly dreams - in order to abide by the lofty demands of the Gospel. This is required of us, if we are to gain salvation. As Jesus said,

"He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake, will find it" (Mt. 10:39).

This was just the sort of devotion and sacrifice Father Corapi emphasized in his teaching. And it was this uncompromising and even triumphalistic style that made him famous. Until now, one could have used his last name as an adjective - "Corapic" - and an informed Catholic would have immediately understood the word to mean uncompromisingly and boldly Catholic.

Father John Corapi or Mister John Corapi? As the famous priest of EWTN has probably preached many times before, there is literally a world of difference between the two identities. How is it that he is now the last to appreciate it?

Another Demonstration of Sola Scriptura

2011-05-21T21:34:00.065-04:00

It's Saturday evening, May 21, 2011. The website is down, a sign is on the door, no one is answering the phone, and Family Radio International is now broadcasting program reruns and Christian music. Once again, the day that Bible preacher Harold Camping prophecied would bring the rapture of the "saved" and the beginning of hell on earth for those "left behind" has come and gone without so much as a stir from a mouse. He was wrong in his prediction of 1994, and once again he's wrong in 2011. The many members of his flock - those who have submitted to his presumptuous private interpretations - must now confront a painful and humiliating reality. Thousands have quit jobs, sold homes and belongings, said farewell to family and friends, and spent their lives and savings (Robert Fitzpatrick spent $140,000 of his own money on posters and advertisements) on an expensive worldwide campaign to spread the urgent message that, on May 21, 2011, beginning at 6 p.m., devastating earthquakes would strike the earth, introducung the beginning of the end of this world.

And the message was a big fat misinterpretation.

Where did Camping go wrong? He explained his reasoning in a piece posted on the Family Radio website. Camping explained that the flood in Noah's time occurred on the 17th day of the 2nd month of the year 4990 B. C.. He then noted,

"about 5,000 years later God wrote in His Holy Bible in 2 Peter Chapter 3 about this worldwide destruction by water in the days of Noah. In the same chapter He also warned that the time would come when Holy God would destroy the whole world by fire."

"God declared in 2 Peter 3:8, 'But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.'"

Camping then reasoned, in light of this passage,

"exactly 7,000 years after [God] destroyed the world with water in Noah's day, He plans to destroy the entire world forever."

Finally, he explained the last step in his theory:

"Because the year 2011 A. D. is exactly 7,000 years after 4990 B. C. when the flood began, the Bible has given us absolute proof that the year 2011 is the end of the world during the Day of Judgment, which will come on the last day of the Day of Judgment."

"Amazingly, May 21, 2011 is the 17th day of the 2nd month of the Biblical calendar of our day."

Again, where did Camping go wrong? Did he not simply gather together a number of inspired Scriptural passages and then interpret them by the light of the Holy Spirit? Is this not standard procedure for Bible Christians the world over?

Camping went wrong where Protestantism itself went wrong five hundred years ago - with the fundamental doctrine of Sola Scriptura. Protestantism claims that Scripture Alone is the one and only source of all religious truth, and that the Word of God is either "self-interpreting," or else, that the Holy Spirit privately makes known to the believer the meaning of each passage. Thus, Protestantism rejects Catholic Sacred Tradition and the living Magisterium of the Church as having any authoritative role in interpreting Holy Scripture, defining doctines and morals, or definitively resolving modern religious questions. These Catholic compliments to the Word of God are allegedly additions and corruptions of men to the wholesome and simple practice of reading the Bible and then understanding its meaning by the light of the same Spirit that inspred the Bible.

As appealing as this doctrine may be to those who are adverse to either authority, history, or common sense, its inevitable results can be seen in the catastrophe of denominationalism, and in the embarrassing fact that Protestants themselves cannot agree on the interpretation even of essential biblical teachings. If they could agree, it would still mean nothing, since truth is in no way dependent on popular approval. Nor - most ironically - can Protestants find the doctrine of Sola Scriptura itself in the pages of Holy Writ. And if they could find the doctrine, it would be due to the fact that the Church they reject - the Church that pre-dates the New Testament and which Saint Paul called the "pillar and bulwark of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15)" - had placed it there by the light of the Holy Spirit.

Harold Camping did what all Protestants do every time they open the Word of God, and every time a Bible preacher offers a sermon. He merely followed the standard Bible Christian tradition: he interpreted passages of the Bible as best he could according to his own limited lights and - most importantly - apart from the Church entrusted by Christ with the interpretation of the Bible. Protestants do this day in and day out, primarily concerning doctrines and morals. The only thing somewhat unique about Camping is that he did this with passages concerning, not only doctrines and morals, but prophecy as well. But is this actually new to the Protestant world - this attempt to literally align Biblical prophecies with the events of the daily news? Certainly not. Many Fundamentalists before him have done the same, and many after him will commit the same blunder with the same confidence and the same tragic results.

Oh, how the enemies of Christianity relish such blunders, because they offer new and poignant opportunities to confidently mock religion in general and the Christian faith in particular. And while half of the world is laughing, how easy is it to convincingly respond to this mockery and pursuade the critics that...well, we don't believe in that kind of religion?

Calm, cool, and collected Bible Christians are now smugly condemning Camping's interpretations as foolish, reckless, and plainly mistaken. They proudly point out for this journalist and that interviewer that he clearly gave an incorrect interpretation to the Bible, and they denounce him for doing so. I find this to be highly hypocritical. For ultimately, the error does not belong to Camping alone; it belongs to the entire Protestant portion of Christendom, which is now so hopelessly fractured and ineffective - thanks to denominationalism - as to pose little or no threat whatsoever to atheism, relativism, or neo-paganism. In fact, the private interpretation of Holy Scripture is itself a form of relativism, in that it subjects all biblical truths to the individual interpreter.

I'd personally like to credit Harold Camping with demonstrating on a global scale the fundamental flaw in Protestantism - the heresy of Sola Scriptura, which has deluded countless believers for five hundred years with the unbiblical anarchy of the private interpretation of Holy Scripture. I only wish Camping's co-religionist critics could recognize the lesson.

The Wages of Sin Is Death

2011-05-02T14:07:00.052-04:00

The following statement was released today by the Vatican:

"Osama Bin Laden, as we all know, bore the most serious responsibility for spreading divisions and hatred among populations, causing the deaths of innumerable people, and manipulating religions for this purpose.

In the face of a man’s death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred."

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The mere sight of Osama Bin Laden, or the mention of his name, makes my American blood boil. Even the mention of his ideology - call it what you will - intensely nauseates me. Instinctively, the news late last night of his killing by Navy SEALs brought a flash of joy and relief. But today, sober reflection and a mental conversion from patriotic pride to Christian sagacity reminds me that the damnation of a single soul - of even the most justifiably repudiated person - is a tragedy more heinous than any other. In fact, this was the ultimate horror of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers: namely, that thousands of unprepared and possibly presumptuous souls in an instant stood before their divine Judge.

Is that an unpatriotic statement? Is it an insensitive thought? But it's the truth. The greatest tragedy in life is not human suffering, no matter how severe; the greatest tragedy is damnation, the eternal loss of a soul created to love God and neighbor here, and to live with God and His saints hereafter in the bliss of heaven.

Is Osama Bin Laden in hell? Presently, many people seem quite pleased to openly proclaim that he is, and this gives them great satisfaction. It is part and parcel of the present party spirit in America. Personally, I also think Bin Laden is in hell, just as surely as do those singing, dancing, and drinking crowds gathered on the streets of New York and Washington. But this is not something to celebrate, even if in a horrible way one's American pride at first finds joy in it. Think more deeply; think instead as a Christian, rather than only as an American; think as one whose thoughts are concerned, not only with the temporal, but even more, with the eternal. Another soul may have descended into the fires of hell forever and ever. The powers of darkness may have achieved another victory and Satan been gratified to claim another soul. No disciple of Jesus Christ, fresh from the celebration of Easter, should rejoice in this. Our Lord's Passion was meant to prevent this from happening, to offer man the strength of grace and the light of truth so that he might not be lost, but be saved. The Church's mission is absolutely identical, and so, too, is the mission of every member of the Church. Truly, Christianity exists in order to prevent this definitive effect of evil.

Yes, I am profoundly relieved that a human agent and symbol of extreme evil has been removed from this world. There's great satisfaction in his having been served justice at last. But I am not, in any way, to any degree, celebrating his damnation. In spite of all the misery this man has caused, I only wish he could have been saved from the definitive wages of sin, which are far worse than mere death.

Filthy Fonts

2011-03-27T16:47:00.044-04:00

American Catholicism is a big bright bag of gimmicks. It believes that the proper model to be followed in promoting Catholic faith and devotion is that of the modern department store. Hence, this drive or that collection must always be accompanied by some catchy little billboard slogan dreamed up by a PR committee. And this, supposedly, is how we draw people into the Church's sublime mission, message, and activity.

This department store mentality is especially irritating when it enters the churches in which we worship the one true God. If the liturgy of the Church - and especially, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass - is the meeting of heaven and earth, then how tragic it is when earth seems to be the predominant influence in this meeting. And yet, American Catholicism cannot tamper enough with the liturgy, from altering its prayers with politically sensitive language, to incorporating forms of architecture more appropriate to a skating rink, to using styles of art and music best left in children's museums and elevators.

One would hope that at least the holy season of Lent would be spared this profane treatment. Until one enters a church and, dipping a finger in the Holy Water font, one is surprised to find a dry gritty substance accompanied by a little paper sign that reads something like, "During Lent, sand reminds us of the barrenness of the season."

Pardon me, but sand in a Holy Water font only reminds me of the barrenness of American Catholicism and its pitiable fixation with gimmicks contrary to the spirit of authentic Catholicism.

Lent is not the time to eliminate a sacramental and a blessing, especially one so fundamental as Holy Water. Sacramentals are intended to dispose us to the grace of the sacraments; they prepare us for an encounter with God. When we enter a church in which Jesus Christ is present in the Holy Eucharist, we first bless ourselves with Holy Water as a sign of reverence and as a reminder to ourselves that we have made a brief retreat from the world to focus our distracted minds on God and the things of heaven. Removing Holy Water and replacing it with dirt from who-knows-where is a fine way of eliminating this act of reverence and its many spiritual benefits, and perhaps of reminding ourselve instead of the last time we played volleyball at the beach. After all, things carry with them associations. Sand has no place whatsoever in the Church's devotional life, in spite of the Gospel reading for the First Sunday of Lent. Sand is not a theme of Lent, but water certainly is, from the beginning of the season to its conclusion in the Easter Triduum - those magnificent three days of high liturgy that lead the Church to the baptismal font.

Regardless, the practice of emptying the fonts of Holy Water, filling them with sand, and then scotch taping a little paper sign nearby - thereby admitting that the pratice is in need of explanation - continues during the lenten season. The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments responded to a question about this practice on March 14, 2000, stating that it is not to be permitted. Here is the Congregation's response:

"This Congregation for Divine worship has received your letter sent by fax in which you ask whether it is in accord with liturgical law to remove the Holy Water from the fonts for the duration of the season of Lent.

This Dicastery is able to respond that the removing of Holy Water from the fonts during the season of Lent is not permitted, in particular, for two reasons:

The liturgical legislation in force does not foresee this innovation, which in addition to being praeter legem is contrary to a balanced understanding of the season of Lent, which though truly being a season of penance, is also a season rich in the symbolism of water and Baptism, constantly evoked in liturgical texts.

The encouragement of the Church that the faithful avail themselves frequently of her sacraments and sacramentals is to be understood to apply also to the season of Lent. The 'fast' and 'abstinence' which the faithful embrace in this season does not extend to abstaining from the sacraments or sacramentals of the Church. The practice of the Church has been to empty the Holy Water fonts on the days of the Sacred Triduum in preparation of the blessing of the water at the Easter Vigil, and it corresponds to those days on which the Holy Eucharist is not celebrated (i. e. Good Friday and Holy Saturday)."

Please, empty the fonts of filth, reverently clean them, and fill them again with Holy Water. Enough with the gimmicks.

Forty Days For Life

2011-03-06T18:41:00.023-05:00

On one occasion, the disciples of Jesus attempted to cast out a demon from a possessed young boy; they tried but failed, so that Jesus Himself had to perform the exorcism. Afterwards, the disciples asked our Lord, "Why could we not cast it out?" He answered, "This kind cannot be cast out except by prayer and fasting" (Mk. 9:13-28).

Guided by this divine counsel, the Church for centuries has confronted all forms and degrees of evil with the spiritual weapons of prayer and fasting. In fact, Catholic exorcists, before performing exorcisms, pray and fast.

Abortion is an unspeakably grave sin and crime. It is evil - perhaps the gravest evil that occurs on American soil. Wherever innocent human blood is shed, the devil and his minions roar with laughter. How pleased they must be with modern America, with the countless philosophies and industries that have festered around abortion. Perhaps the greatest achievement - from the diablolical perspective - has been the effect abortion has had on Christians. Namely, we have become morally lukewarm, we have grown comfortable with the killing spree that goes on daily in our "womens' clinics," even as we shout and wring our hands for this cause of social justice and that cause of social justice. A fine show of indignation; fine and appallingly selective. Selective justice is injustice. And abortion is the definitive act of injustice against the most innocent of people, against the most vulnerable class of persons.

Abortion, if it is ever to be cast out from our country, must be confronted with spiritual weapons; politics alone will not suffice. This Lent, an organization called Forty Days For Life is holding forty days of prayer and fasting to end abortion. From March 9 (Ash Wednesday) until April 17 (Palm Sunday), Christians will be meeting each day to pray and witness for an end to abortion in front of the Planned Parenthood facility, where abortions are performed. The facility is located at 3550 Main Street, Springfield, MA. People of all denominations are welcome to participate, and to pray and fast at home as well.

Please consider spending one hour or many hours this Lent at the Wason Avenue entrance of the Planned Parenthood facility in Springfield. Through the spiritual weapons of prayer and fasting, beg God Almighty to convert hearts and minds and to drive from our land the wicked but legal infanticide of abortion.

For more information, click on FORTY DAYS FOR LIFE, and go to the web site.

Effects of the Forty Days For Life campaign:
- At least 3,599 lives have been saved from abortion
- 43 abortion workers have left their jobs and turned from the abortion industry
- 9 abortion facilities have been closed
- Many women have been spared the disastrous emotional and psychological effects of abortion

The Neglected Profundity of Advent

2010-12-08T09:01:00.036-05:00

Advent is my favorite liturgical season. I love the mystery of it, the emphasis on ancient Messianic prophecies - especially Isaiah's - the mood of suspense and hope, the solemn chants filled with expectation, and the liturgical color itself - a hue of violet somewhat deeper and darker than that of Lent. Even the long cold nights of December add a certain mystique to the season. Every aspect of Advent converges in a liturgical portrait of supernatural mystery.

And yet, the most distinctive theological emphasis of Advent is commonly neglected. That statement is not an exaggeration, but an understatement. Approximately the first two-thirds of Advent is concerned, not with the first coming of our Lord as an infant, but with His Second Coming at the end of this world as judge of the living and the dead. Hence, the readings from Mass and the Divine Office previous to December 17 contain urgent warnings filled with fire and brimstone, and concern the end of the world and the final day of reckoning for mankind. The "coming" theme during this period is about, not a napping infant in a manger, but a divine Ruler who will return in glory, accompanied by His angels. Hence, Advent possesses a sobering and deeply introspective spirit. Only from December 17 onward does the season finally turn to the miracle of the Incarnation.

The Vatican document entitled General Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar says,

"Advent has a twofold character: as a season to prepare for Christmas when Christ's first coming to us is remembered; as a season when that remembrance directs the mind and heart to await Christ's Second Coming at the end of time" (# 39).

A superb chant expressing Advent's first theme is Creator Alme Siderum. Here is a popular English rendering:

"O Lord of Light, who made the stars,
O Dawn by whom we see the Way,
O Christ, Redeemer of all men,
Make haste to listen as we pray!

"In lowliness you came on earth
To rescue man from Satan's snares:
O wondrous love that healed our wounds
By taking on our mortal cares!

"To pay the debt we owed for sin
Your painful cross was named the price;
From Mary's virgin shrine you came
A spotless host for sacrifice.

"But now you reign the King of Kings,
Adored in highest majesty:
Your very Name commands respect
From pole to pole and sea to sea!

"Great Judge of mankind's final day,
Have pity on your children's plight:
Rise up to shield us with your grace,
Deliver us from Satan's might.

"To God the Father and the Son
For ages of eternal days
Together with the Spirit be
All glory, honor, might, and praise!"

There is more sound Catholic doctrine proclaimed in this single chant than we hear in many typical sermons at Mass combined. It beautifully expresses the true nature of the first part of Advent. But sadly - and quite predictably - this hymn is seldom heard in our parishes. It just doesn't have enough tinsel to it.

Notice that the text refers to the Incarnation and Passion as matters of the distant past, so that Christ is referred to as the "Great Judge of mankind's final day." And notice also the two references to that forgotten figure in Catholic preaching - Satan. What meaning does the Gospel have when this angelic monster is omitted from it? Christianity without the devil is comparable to World War II without Adolf Hitler: it makes no sense whatsoever. It proposes a catstrophic effect without a cause.

Advent is an appropriate season for homilies on the last things and the end times. It is a fine time for retreats and missions on related topics. Instead, in the typical parish, Advent is usually a period of jolly sentimentalism from beginning to end. From the First Sunday of Advent, you would think that Christmas had already arrived, since the consistent topic is baby Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and all things cute and quaint. But this is utterly contrary to the lectionary readings and various prayers and antiphons of the Advent liturgies. It is also symptomatic of a larger problem in the Church - the problem of all problems: namely, the failure to preach the fullness of the faith, and in particular, the consistent neglect of the more difficult teachings of the Gospel. Among such conveniently omitted teachings are those proclaimed, day after day, by the Biblical readings of Advent. Even as these Old and New Testament readings proclaim their dire theme - the Second Coming of Christ at the end of this world and the concomitant Day of Judgement - the common sermons and songs heard in our parishes say something entirely different. Or rather, the popularly selected homiles and hymns deliberately avoid the true theme of the first part of Advent, in preference for a saccharine sentimentalism that is an escape from graver matters. But we avoid truth only to our own peril.

During the season of Advent, the Church offers us a profound selection of Biblical readings that should - among other things - remind us of the supreme and urgent importance of the interior life. This life allows - yes - for a certain indulgence in the sentimentalism of the manger scene at Bethlehem. But even more, it requires that we examine our souls and consider their states before the Savior who will finally return as judge of all the living and the dead. Most appropriately, the Church offers the first theme of Advent - the Second Coming - before the second theme - the birth of our Lord. We would be wise and prudent to observe this order.

"Am I My Brother's Keeper?"

2010-09-29T19:33:00.036-04:00

It's political campaign season, and, for the time being, even Barack Obama has found Jesus. Responding to a question about his faith, the president said,

"It was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life I would want to lead." Then he added, "Being my brother's and sister's keeper. Treating others as they would treat me."

For a man trying to persuade a skeptical nation that he is, in fact, a Christian, this short response was anything but a good start. It only confirms the suspicions of many that he has little familiarity with the actual teachings of the One of whom he claims to be a disciple.

This short response from the president is loaded with problems, but I'd like to comment on only a portion of the statement, on the question allegedly posed by Jesus Christ - "Am I my brother's keeper?"

Very simply - Christ never made this statement. In fact, it is taken from the Old Testament account of Cain and Abel, found in Genesis, chapter four.

"Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let us go out into the field.' Now when they were in the field, Cain turned against his brother Abel and slew him. Then the Lord said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' He answered, 'Am I my brother's keeper?' And the Lord said, 'What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground.'"

Barack Obama is making a concerted effort to persuade us that he is, not a Muslim, but a Christian. In fact, he has been described by his "spiritual advisors" as a devout Christian. Well, Mohammad himself might have had a better grasp of Jesus' teachings, and I'm quite certain that he wasn't a devout Christian.

It's this sort of remarkable ignorance of even the rudiments of Christianity that convinces me this president is not a Christian, and if anything, that he is a lukewarm Muslim. Oh sure, he may have a few Christian leanings or sympathies. But who doesn't? Even atheists and agnostics can agree with the Church on the precepts of the natural law. Even many pagans and secularists can appreciate the lofty moral teachings and sagacious parables of our Lord. But this sort of fascination with Christ does not make one a Christian. Our Lord had many such curiousity-seekers as He preached throughout the Holy Land. And it was many of these Christ-dabblers that ultimately shouted during Holy Week, "Crucify Him!"

What makes one a Christian is the faith that Jesus Christ is the divine Savior of the world, together with the reception of Trinitarian Baptism into that faith. Barack Obama does not believe in the divinity of Christ, but holds the general notion that Christ was a great man, a fine teacher, an impressive prophet, and perhaps in some compromised sort of way, even a sort of secular savior, but certainly not THE Savior through whom all things visible and invisible were created and by whose salvific work we may be saved. In fact, the president holds views of Jesus that even a Muslim might hold.

I refuse to be Barack Obama's fool. I'm not the least bit persuaded by his recent comments. They bear the marks of a demagogue who has employed a few religious flourishes for purely political reasons, in order to further his political objectives; namely, getting re-elected by a largely Christian citizenry. His inexplicable ignorance of Christ's sayings convinces me all the more that he is not a Christian, that his religious heart lies elsewhere. So be it. But there's another aspect to his comments that is even more remarkable.

Is it not morbidly appropriate that this fanatically pro-abortion president - this darling of Planned Parenthood - should mistakenly profess that he's a disciple - not of Jesus Christ - but of Cain - the first human being ever to have committed murder? Yes, it's morbidly and perfectly appropriate.

The Ongoing Islamization Of America

2010-09-09T12:07:00.046-04:00

"The children of this world, in relation to their own generation, are more prudent than the children of the light" (Lk. 16:8).

Christ Himself said it. Those devoted to evil are more prudent and effective in achieving their godless purposes than are those devoted to good in achieving their godly purposes. This truth is being demonstrated yet again in our ever-chaotic country.

Terry Jones, Pastor of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, intends to publically burn Korans on September 11 in commemoration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The plan has been denounced far and wide by the powers that be as an act of brazen religious bigotry. Nevertheless, as of this moment, the Reverend still intends to proceed with his book burning.

Personally, I reject Islam as a false religion. As a Catholic, I absolutely must reject it, because it blatantly denies that Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God who died on the Cross for the sins of man. To entertain even the possibility of Islam's veracity would be to doubt the most fundamental teachings of the Christian faith.

Certainly, Islam contains some truth - perhaps even much truth - but this is the case with perhaps every religion in the world, including Satanism. And as the Church has painfully learned over the centuries, the most dangerous heresies are those which are mostly true and only partly false. A heresy that is 99% correct and only 1% incorrect is the most threatening heresy of all, because the faithful, being induced by the appeal and familiarity of the 99%, will overlook the 1%. And that 1% may be potent enough to poison the soul of the believer and mislead his intellect so as to finally render him an unbeliever and a sinner. My point is, to claim that Islam is partly true is to state the obvious, but it is no reason to underestimate its potential for doing harm.

I'm firmly opposed to the Reverend Jones' burning of the Koran - certainly not because I respect the contents of the Koran - but because the affects of doing so will only contribute to the ongoing Islamization of America.

First, I don't believe that the members of a religion should be deliberately harassed or offended. But even more, this Koran burning will certainly give Muslims the golden opportunity to cry - and with some justification - "Victim!" And we all know how far that cry can go in victim-obsessed America. In our country, victimhood is both an industry and a revered status. The victim quickly becomes the darling of every bleeding heart liberal. Before long, new laws are written for their protection, and individual members of the new victimized class are invited to appear at all sorts of social, political, and cultural events, and they are sympathetically interviewed on television and radio. It's as if a tremendous concerted effort is made to compensate these persons, for their having been offended, by making them into celebrities with a mystique all their own. Eventually, the new victims are seen and heard everywhere, and, most importantly - their cause takes a giant leap forward.

If Reverend Jones proceeds with his intention, the result for Christians in general (and Americans as well) may be catastrophic. Many Muslims will hate Christians all the more. Perhaps religiously-motivated violence will increase. Christians will appear all the more to their secular American compatriots as hate mongers and bigots. Laws restricting the expression of Christian belief may be passed, as well as those protecting and therefore encouraging Muslim belief. And for what lofty and all-important cause will this mayhem occur? Merely so that one pastor and his 50-member congregation can recklessly express their dislike for Islam. Again, I understand and share this dislike, but burning the Koran will do nothing to further the Gospel, and it may do much to further the religion of Mohammad in America. For now, Pastor Jones just may be the best friend Muslims have in America.

Pastor Jones, your Koran burning will only demonstrate the truth of our Lord's warning: the children of this world are far more prudent than the children of the light. With the help of your imprudent actions, Reverend, the Islamization of America will proceed with renewed enthusiasm.

[Update] Two hours after I posted this article, Pastor Jones announced that he would not hold the book burning. But now, the infamous Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, with whom Jones is on friendly terms, has come to the rescue of the event and is threatening to burn Korans in Jones' place.

Neither of these communities is representative of Christians in America, but it doesn't matter. In the minds of those Muslims who already hate us, the slightest association is sufficient to convict. And in this case the conviction is, we are their fellow Americans.

Whether or not there is some sort of Koran burning on September 11, the damage has been done.

[Second Update] Now all the fundamentalist Koran-burners are coming out of the woodwork, the latest being a pastor in Springfield, Tennessee. Meanwhile, Pastor Terry Jones is threatening to resume his original plan.

I find it quite ironic that these Bible Christians should distinguish themselves through - of all things - public book burnings. It sounds strangely similar to the accusations they love to make against the Catholic Church of old, doesn't it? Will our Fundamentalist brethren soon release an index of forbidden books?

If the Fundamentalists can't get their fires started on Saturday, I have a pile of their anti-Catholic tracts on the Inquisition that would make excellent kindling.

The Pit That Glenn Beck Cannot See

2010-08-31T06:20:00.029-04:00

Conservative talk radio and Fox News host Glenn Beck was recently asked on the "O'Rielly Factor,"

"Do you believe that gay marriage is a threat to the country in any way?"

Beck sarcastically responded,

"No. Will the gays come and get us?"

He then added,

"I believe that Thomas Jefferson said, 'If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket, what difference is it to me?'"

Years ago, I used to be an enthusiastic fan of Glenn Beck. I regularly listened to his radio program before he hit the big times, and I enjoyed his bold conservative commentary. But in the last year or so, I've found myself growing alarmed and even appalled at his words and positions on matters that are extremely important to me as a Catholic American. And let me emphasize right away that I place my religion before my nationality, my faith before my patriotism. Which is another way of saying, "I dearly love my country. But if it betrays the one true God, I will denounce it for doing so."

The above quotations from Bill O'Rielly's program provide a prime example of my objections to Glenn Beck. I believe he's creating a super-patriotism which is actually a form of secular religion. Call it, "Americanism." It even has its own communion of saints, which consists of the Founding Fathers of our country. These men supposedly provide the ideal examples of the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. It's as if Beck has taken the Catholicism he abandoned years ago and has constructed a secular catechism modeled on it. My immediate point, then, is that Beck has set up a system of doctrine and devotion that could nearly replace one's Christianity, and he is being recognized by countless conservative Christians - Catholics included - as a sort of secular prophet. Hence, his near obsession with referring to his fulfilled predictions. How many times in a single program does Beck say,

"Remember what I had said two years ago? It's all come true."

The Founding Fathers of America, in spite of their political brilliance, are unworthy of the religious veneration Beck is showing them. Yes, their achievements are perhaps unparalleled in the history of nation-building. I could even happily and proudly believe that God Almighty was guiding their hands as they established this country, its constitution, and its institutions. But let this profound respect halt at the threshold of religion. The Founding Fathers were not saints; some were even deists. For example, Thomas Jefferson published a version of the New Testament (the "Jefferson Bible") in which all the miraculous works of Christ were removed. Why? Because he believed Christ was a great man, but not God, and that the accounts of the miracles were added by overly zealous believers. Such was the "faith" of this Founding Father. And it was in reference to this man that Glenn Beck answered the all-important question posed to him,

"Do you believe that gay marriage is a threat to the country in any way?"

Let me answer for the enlightened one.

Gay so-called marriage is a grave threat to the country, to religious freedom specifically, and to individuals who hold beliefs and opinions contrary to the powers that be. And what exactly are the particulars of this threat? If gay so-called marriage is rendered legal, and is therefore condoned and defended with the force of federal law, then opposition to it will become a matter of illegality. In other words, then the traditional belief that homosexual acts are contrary both to the natural law and to divine positive law will, for the first time in American history, be at odds with established American law. A fundamental teaching of the Catholic Church will actually be outlawed, and the simple act of teaching the faith of the saints by any means will be an illegal act. This would ultimately be applied to both the written and the spoken word. What will come, then, of those who preach or teach in church, school, or home? They will be subject to prosecution. What will happen to priests, ministers, rabbis, and military chaplains who refuse - as a matter of conscience - to perform marriage ceremonies for gay couples who approach them? They will be fined or arrested. What will come of the free press, of journalists, writers, bloggers, and publishers who do not agree with the militant gay agenda? Their work will be censored by the government. Radio, television, and the Internet will also be perused by federal officials in search of content that is, well...ultimately Christian in its morality. And even on the secular level, what will happen to the wedding industry - to those who provide wedding music, photographs, catering services, and even those cheerful little cake figurines? They, too, will be subject to the law if they raise an objection to providing their services for gay so-called weddings. And consider the increased force with which the homosexual life style will be promoted in public schools - as it already is, to state the obvious. Need we wonder what will happen to the teacher who refuses to conform to the new amoral standard?

The legalization of gay so-called marriage will result in the deprivation of freedom on so many levels that Glenn Beck's sarcasm, tepidity, and short-sightedness on the issue are inconceivable and inexcusable. It certainly is unenlightened. His exaggerated veneration for the Founding Fathers has blinded him to the importance of matters on which they did not specifically speak or write. It's as if Beck has implicitly said, "If they didn't refer to it, it must not be important." He reminds me of the preacher who claims he cannot condemn abortion or euthanasia in his sermons because the words are not found in the Bible.

Glenn Beck introduces his radio program as, "the fusion of entertainment and enlightenment." Pardon me, but the enlightened one is suffering from a severe case of spiritual and intellectual blindness, and it certainly is not entertaining. If he sincerely cannot recognize the grave threat that gay so-called marriage poses to religious freedom, and the fact that - yes, the gays will come and get us - then, in spite of all the mawkish pious and patriotic language, he is just the latest case in secular America of the blind leading the blind.

"And if the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit" (Mt. 15:14).

Insensitive Is Not The Word

2010-08-16T12:43:00.046-04:00

Mr. President, you have been called "insensitive" for your support of the building of a new mosque at the very sight of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But you're not insensitive - not at all. For this would imply merely an oversight on your part, an idiosyncrasy, an ordinary vice - such as we all possess. No, you are not insensitive; rather, first, you are anti-Christian, and as a result, you constantly and deliberately support that which is offensive to Christianity. And second, you are, I believe, a closet Muslim, so that there is more than only religious freedom at work here; there is religious preference. You prefer Islam to Christianity. You promote Islam and its interests. Perhaps you're the most dangerous lukewarm Muslim in the world today. Your behavior and decisions, then, are entirely predictable, as they have been in this case.

At the present time, these personal convictions have resulted in your far and wide support for Islam, a religion remarkably described by its apologists as "peaceful," in defiance of volumes of historical and current evidence to the contrary. The above picture, which will ever move Americans to tears, speaks a thousand words. I cannot help but wonder how much longer it will be legally permissable to publish this photo.

You say, Mr. President, that terrorism and Islam are unrelated, that those who engage in violence in the name of Allah are loners or religious fanatics. But who's to say? Islam consists of various schools of law and interpretation. Who can authoritatively declare which of these schools or interpretations is the authentic one? What human authority can definitively state which are the devout and true Muslims and which are the lukewarm and false? Don't give us your strategically prepared statements on the matter. Your platitude-laden speeches mean nothing. They are cleverly devised clouds of ink meant to confuse and disorientate your audience. Like Protestantism, Islam is a fractured religion and is devided into bodies, due to the unresolvable problem of the interpretation of texts. There is no Islamic pope, so to speak, to make final declarations for all Muslims on matters of faith and morality. Who, then, can officially declare that all acts of terrorism performed in the name of Allah, that all forms of violent Jihad, are contrary to the Islamic faith and must be repudiated by Muslims? The answer is, "No one." And if we look to the founder of Islam to provide an example, then the problem appears to be all the more permanent.

This mosque must not be built on the sight of the 9/11 attacks. If it is, it will be a symbol of what? Of peaceful Islam? Certainly not. Instead, it will stand as a triumphalistic sixteen-story monument, in the most symbolic place in America, to that most radical, hateful, and violent form of Islam which you, Mr. President, claim to denounce. It will remain a monolithic witness to the fact that modern Islam - in spite of its ardent defenders in the White House and beyond - can be a catastrophically deadly religion.

May the one true living God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - sustain us during the frighteningly dark years of your presidential term. May He awaken Americans to the hard truth that the blessings of tolerance and religious freedom can be misused by evil men, to the enslavement and annihilation of an entire nation. And may Our Lady of the Rosary, Our Lady of Lepanto, intercede for us again.

Bored Out Of The Church

2010-07-23T13:59:00.040-04:00

I recently found myself out of state for an afternoon. I happened to be near my old childhood parish, so, since there were a few hours to kill, I stopped at the church to say the divine office. The interior was exactly as I remembered it thirty years ago - contemporary, cold, barren, and simply ugly. No altar rails of any kind, tabernacle to the side and priest's chair in the center, no confessionals (probably a "reconciliation room" down a hallway), and, rather than a proper crucifix, a giant risen Christ on a painfully stark sanctaury wall. It was truly a "worship space" for the "parish family" sharing in the "celebration" of the "Eucharistic meal." A brochure in the vestibule proclaimed that this was a "Vatican II parish." I would strongly disagree.

After praying the office, I went for a drive through the old schoolyards and neighborhoods of my childhood - always a dangerous thing for a middle-aged man to do. Needless to say, it was a depressing day, and I was glad to get back that evening to western Massachusetts.

I've always felt deep sadness at recalling the past, remembering the struggles of growing up, and most especially, the religious emptiness and confusion of my youth. I was raised in a liberal Catholic environment from top to bottom - from home, to church, to school. Liberalism, liberalism, liberalism. Interpreted, this means sex education, folk Masses, sacred vessels made of pottery, nuns without religious habits, the absence of catechism or Bible study, the absense of Eucharistic Benediction, Stations of the Cross, and the Rosary, and an attitude that those pompous old men in Rome just loved to concoct for us little people a thousand arbitrary rules and regulations such as, "Thou shalt not contracept," and, "Thou shalt confess thy sins." But of course, we all knew that such stuff could be safely ignored, and so we ignored it. And Mass - Oh, Mass was an obligation to be fulfilled - a bunch of memorized words to be dutifully recited, a sermon full of nicey-nice platitudes to be endured, and a little snack distributed before the dismissal. Mass was valuable only in that, once attended, you felt releaved until the next Sunday. I didn't know what it all meant - some mumbo jumbo about blessed bread and wine - and therefore, I found it perfectly boring. When I finally graduated after twelve years of Catholic school, I simply could not wait to leave the Catholic Church. I was bored out of the Church.

Three days after my trip out of state, I received an unexpected email from an old friend. He was once my best friend, and we had attended Catholic school together. To get immediately to my point - he's no longer a Catholic, but is now a Baptist. He said that when he was Catholic, he found himself not wanting to go the Church a good part of the time. Surprise, surprise. He had been dragged through the same liberal machine that I had been. And he, too, was another casualty of liberal Catholicism. He left a Church he never knew, a faith he never heard fully and convincingly proclaimed. I can't blame him for initially leaving, because the so-called Catholicism that we had both experienced was a load of rubbish. It was anything but authentically Catholic. It was just plain boring.

In the perennial battle between orthodox and heterodox Catholicism, between authentic and fraudulent Catholicism, I'd like to make one observation. Liberal Catholcism is allegedly the peoples' version of the faith. It's supposedly relevant to life and the issues that concern ordinary people. It doesn't brow beat or offend, but comforts and consoles; it's non-judgmental and highly tolerant of diverse beliefs and life styles. In other words, it has been designed specifically to please the masses, and is free and able at any moment to make the next requested adaptation to the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times. But why, then, have so many Catholics left the Church in the heyday of liberalism? Because liberalism fails to provide man with what he most needs: namely, absolute truth and divine grace. And this results in utter boredom, as it should.

Liberalism provides man only with a sort of over-sized image of his own fallen self. Except, in this case, the image is not for reflection, but for admiration. Liberalism does not draw man to recognize his own fallen nature, the divine remedy to this fallen nature, nor to adore the majesty of God. Instead, it intoxicates man with self love. He falls in love with an image that is actually grotesque beyond belief; only, modern man has become blind to this type of grotesqueness, to moral and spiritual ugliness. He believes, not the revealed truth about himself, but the lie that he is beautiful just as he is, just as he comes into this world bereft of sanctifying - and therefore, beautifying - grace. He holds also that nothing in his personal behavior could further soil his soul. Hence the liberal mantra, "God loves and accepts us just the way we are." I dare say that if this were the case, Christ would never have died on Calvary, for there would have been no need to die, no need to redeem humanity. And now that our Lord has objectively redeemed us, we must subjectively respond to His plea. The Catholic religion is the fullness of this plea. It is a masterful divine scheme which no human being, which no society, could ever have conceived. It speaks to us the truth about God, the world, man, and the catastrophic human condition. And it offers to us the only solution to this catastrophe - absolute truth and divine grace, without which there is no salvation.

Liberalism cannot see, or will not admit the existence of, this catastrophe. As a result, it removes the substance from the divine scheme. It presumes everything to be optional. Whatever is difficult or mysterious, it simply disregards, without a concern that it might be necessary. "You don't like this particular dogma? Fine, ignore it. You don't like that particular moral precept? Fine, violate it. You don't like the transcendence of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass? Fine, turn up the guitars and sing about yourself. Celebrate the community. Sing, not about man's desperate need for God, but about God's groveling love for man."

There is nothing in this navel-gazing brand of religion that the human soul needs, or that cannot already be found in the world. We already have the self-help industry and New Age spirituality. The world already offers a thousand ways to spoil, flatter, and massage oneself. The Church is at her all-time worst when she's trying to immitate this self-infatuated worldliness, because she was designed to be otherworldy, and was given an otherworldly mission. And ironically, when she is most this-worldly, it is then that she has most abandoned the world by withholding from it the divine scheme for salvation, with all of its kindness and severity, its heaven and hell.

In a morbid sort of way, I would like to know exactly how many of my old classmates survived their liberal formation and have retained any amount of faith, and how many are actually attending Mass and living a holy Catholic life. I would guess, very few. And this would be the ultimate indictment of liberal Catholicism, which is merely the cowardly effort to make Catholicism an ordinary and easy religion to practice. In being made easy, it has been made meaningless, purposeless, and perfectly dull.

So much for the new Church, the new catechesis, and the new sacramental rites. I guess even the new catholic can live without religious boredom.

The Dark Side Of Liberalism

2010-07-14T08:47:00.017-04:00

The modern American political landscape consists primarily of two rivals: conservativism and liberalism. The media stubbornly portray these two ideologies as personalities. The conservative is a mean gun-toting money-loving Christian who hates blacks, gays, and science, and who likes his women barefoot, pregnant, and at home baking a cake. By contrast, the liberal is a warm, approachable, non-judgmental, easy-going friendly type who just wants everybody to get along. His personality is entirely harmless and may, at worst, cause a little chuckle as we see him on the town green wearing his yellow smiley face have-a-nice-day-button and waving some banner or placard in support of the latest ethical cause.

Regarding the media's portrayal of these two ideologies, nothing could be farther from the truth. Those who listen to Rush Limbaugh will be familiar with his tendency to blame everything that's wrong with America on liberalism. Those who listen to Michael Savage may recall his consistent maxim, "Liberalism is a mental disorder." I would not disagree with either of these descriptions of liberalism; in fact, I would push the descriptions further and say, "Liberalism is a moral disorder."

The term "liberalism" is often used interchangeably with the term "progressivism." To be a progressive is apparently to be in favor of progress. Therefore, to be opposed to progressivism is apparently to be opposed to progress. This is just one example of the endless semantic games played by liberalism. And yet, the term "progressive" reveals an important aspect of liberalism. Namely, it is always in progress, always on the move and loudly indignant at the latest "injustice." It will never be satisfied for having reached its stated objectives, but will continue to push and demonstrate for the next round of radical change. Today's cause is legalized gay so-called marriage; tomorrow's causes will be legalized prostitution, polygamy, polyandry, incest, and bestiality. Liberalism is progressive by nature, so that it cannot rest content with its achievements, but must push on to the next leftist crusade. The liberal utopia is simply unattainable, because it is obsessed with change. This means that it is deceptive, in that it never reveals its whole agenda.

Contrary to its public image dutifully painted by the media, modern liberlism is not a movement for individual liberty. In many ways, it's just the opposite; it's a movement full of constraints and disordered laws that burden man's spirit. And by that I refer especially to man's inherent moral nature given to him by his Creator. Liberalism directly denies and contradicts the divine moral law; it contradicts even the natural law, and therefore, the laws which are meant to order man's life on earth and lead him to the end for which he was created: eternal life with God. In other words, it is directly contrary to man's temporal and eternal good. Liberalism is evil.

I believe there is an undeniable truth about liberalism - this dreadful ideological foe of man. Namely, it has at its heart the spirit of atheism. Why atheism? Because of its overt hatred for God and morality. Liberalism is not concerned with defending the natural liberties that belong to human persons, liberties that find their moral justification in God's will for man. By no means. Rather, it is concerned with removing all traces of God's moral order and establishing another order directly opposed to God's and entirely of man's design. And this is the dark side of liberalism. It is anti-religious.

Consider the causes that have fervently concerned the modern liberal: the availability of all forms of contraceptives - including abortifacients - to women and girls of all ages; abortion on demand during all stages of pregnancy, even without parental consent; gay so-called marriage, and therefore, the necessary redefining of marriage as an "evolving paradigm" (in other words, as nothing or anything); the adoption of children by homosexual couples; hate crimes legislation that, in fact, would silence the proclamation of the moral aspects of the Gospel; euthanasia for the sick and elderly, even as it pushes for the elimination of the death penalty for criminals; absolute pacifism, even as it refuses to admit the parellels between terrorism and militant Islam.

Each of these causes is catastrophic to man's personal, spiritual, and social well being - even his survival here below. They entail direct contradictions of the divine moral law, and thus, deny the existence of moral absolutes. They turn a blind eye to flagrant evil, and contain a dangerous utopian spirit. They assert false "rights' on the part of some individuals, and deny the right to protest on the part of other individuals. They presume the total absense of a Creator. And in perhaps the worst cases, the proponents of these causes actually claim to be inspired by God or the Gospel. At best, this last case is only a mockery of God and the Gospel and a degree of political opportunism that is simply frightening to consider.

Liberalism has a horrendously dark side. It is a heinous and a masterfully deceptive evil. It contains the spirit of atheism by which it denies the rights of God Almighty and elevates man in His place. Its objectives directly contradict the will of God for the human person and for the human race as a whole. And it can lead its informed proponents - those who directly and willingly participate in its agenda - only to the unquencable fires of hell.

The Catastrophe Of Compromise

2010-06-06T15:51:00.005-04:00

During the early thirteenth century, as the middle-aged Saint Dominic was establishing his new order - the Order of Preachers, or Dominicans - many marveled at his ability to attract large numbers of young people. Men and women in the flower of their youth, handsome, beautiful, healthy, hearty, and with futures full of hopes and dreams, were drawn to Saint Dominic and his religious order by the hundreds and thousands. Some came from poverty, but others from wealth, culture, and privelege. Yet all was abandoned when the vows were taken and the habit was received. And what did Saint Dominic offer in return? How did he lure the candidates? What gimmicks were used to manipulate these idealistic young people? Sweets? Balloons? Popular songs? Warm community feelings? No, Saint Dominic employed none of these. He offered instead a strict rule, years of study and formation, fasting, a life of poverty and toil, and possible martyrdom. With these rewards in mind, countless men took to the missionary field and women to the convent.

Today, young people seem to be the ultimate prize of the Churches, religious orders, and denominations. Everybody wants the young, to have their congregations filled with fresh spirited youthful faces. It's as if their presence was the most flattering statement that could possibly be made about the leaders who attracted them. And in the rush to gain the young - and especially teenagers - one unproven strategy is consistently employed: compromise. In other words, low standards, minimal expectations, watered down doctrine and morality, secular music, gimmicks galore, and a general environment of fun and informality. This is the weary old strategy of modern liberalism. Very simply - ask next to nothing of the young, and they will flock to you like Canada geese to a northern lake.

This strategy has been employed by our Church leaders for forty years now, and as a direct result the Church is nearly dead. She is now only a pale emaciated specter of her former glorious self. Countless parishes have been closed and the future of many religious orders is in doubt. Knowledge of the faith is in a deplorable state and irreverence at Mass is a daily scandal. The physical presence and public witness provided by our centrally located church buildings are quickly disappearing from towns and cities. The Church is like a small shallow puddle on an exceedingly hot and sunny day; she is evaporating before our eyes. For the seeking soul willing to consider the faith, it's becoming increasingly difficult to even find the Church. Hmmm, what should we do?

The liberal Catholic answers, "Well of course, we should compromise MORE! More watered down doctrine and morality, more jokes and references to sports in the homilies, more Christian rock, more high-fives from Father, more sweets, balloons, and gimmicks for everybody. And let's clap and laugh and sing happy birthday to whomever one more time!"

Pardon me, but the Church cannot afford to continue this idiotic, reckless, and cowardly strategy for another day. The re-invention of Catholicism for mass appeal that was begun during the sixties and has continued to this very moment must end now. It was a whopping failure, a spiritual tragedy, and the most hilarious joke the devil ever heard. "How do you draw people out of the world? By attracting them to the world in the Church!" Just hilarious.

"And wisdom is justified by her children" (Mt. 11:19).

How shall we attract the young? In fact, how shall we draw all ages to Jesus Christ? By means of an uncompromising fidelity to truth and an uncompromising pursuit of holiness. Period. We've proven well enough that nothing attracts nothing, that compromise attracts the compromised. The Church's duty is to lead souls to Jesus Christ and to His truth and grace, not merely to fill the pews with the bodies of the indifferent. And yet, the Church seems to have adapted her teaching specifically to the indifferent, so as not to offend them. She preaches a Gospel that is primarily designed not to disturb and always to comfort. And in doing so, she leaves sinners and unbelievers unprodded, and deprives the faithful of the Christ for Whom they hunger and the Truth for which they thirst.

Christ did not compromise. He spoke the truth in love and let His words affect His audience however they might. If the crowds believed and followed Him, then thanks be to God. If they objected to the force, authority, and content of His teaching, then so be it. "Let the dead bury their dead."

Saint Dominic did not compromise. He presented to the world an extremely high religious ideal, and expected of his brethren total devotion to the Dominican cause of preaching and defending the faith to friend and foe. As a result, thousands of young people were attracted. Why? Because there was something worth being attracted to, a mission worthy of one's life and death. Because something attracts something. This is proven in modern times by the fact that the totally cool religious orders that have followed the compromise strategy are steadily dying due to a lack of vocations, while the traditional orders that actually make demands on their members are either sustaining themselves or even thriving.

The Catholic Church had better reacquaint herself with the wisdom of the ages that proclaims, "Nothing attracts nothing." If her demands are minimal, then her disciples will be minimalists. If her presentation is worldy, then she'll be presented with worldlings. But if she appeals for devotees ready to live and die for the authentic Gospel with all its kindness and severity, then the Church will again be equiped with the saints and martyrs necessary - by the grace of God - to save this God-ordained institution from her current Dark Ages of sin, irreverence, and unbelief. Then she'll be able to again resume her great commission of glorifying God and saving souls.

The Mass Rock

2010-05-24T23:34:00.010-04:00

During the seventeenth century persecution of Irish Catholics by English Protestants, the faithful were often left no choice but to worship God in remote locations. An isolated area would be chosen, men or boys would be posted as lookouts, and then the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass would be offered. These sites (as depicted above) became known as "Mass Rocks," because the priest would use a rock as an altar. Many such sites still remain in Ireland where Masses are sometimes offered once a year to commemorate the decades of Catholic persecution.

I believe these Mass Rocks are fitting symbols for all Catholics, and for all Christians as well, who are determined to live and proclaim the faith regardless of the price. The modern world is becoming an increasingly hostile place for the Church. Reports of teachers and preachers being arrested or sued simply for speaking the truth in love are becoming quite common. There is already an unspoken list of forbidden topics which, if one addresses in a public forum, may lead to serious legal consequences. So be it.

We are the descendants of martyrs. And as it was in the beginning, so it will be in the end. Today it is the political and social pressure to condone the sins of the modern world; tomorrow it may be open persecution or even worse. One thing is certain: our freedom to worship God, proclaim the Gospel, and make converts is steadily being attacked, so that even catechizing is becoming difficult.

Many Catholics have found a solution to this problem: simply do not speak about "controversial" subjects. They've found consolation in their own cowardice, which dictates to them another gospel, a false gospel of compromise which literally omits all references to Catholic moral teaching. We've all met these persons in our families and social circles. They often regularly go to Mass, pray the rosary, and are active in their parish. But when a priest or catechist finds the courage to speak the truth on one of those controversial subjects - divorce, remarriage, abortion, or homosexuality - they're the first to protest. They're outraged that a Catholic should still believe such things in this day and age. Perhaps they even get up and leave in the middle of the homily, or write a belly-aching editorial to the local newspaper.

In light of this, we must remember the Mass Rock. We must teach and practice the faith without compromise, regardless of the worldy price. We are the disciples of a God who was crucified, of apostles who were beheaded, and of countless devout souls who chose to surrender their lives rather than deny the living God or even one of His revealed Truths. "Precious in the eyes of God is the death of His faithful."

There is no salvation in compromise. There is salvation only in the Mass Rock.