Memorial Day

Folks,

It is nearing day's end, but please remember to pray for our service men and women who go into harm's way so that we do not have to.

I love our military. I love the men and women who put their lives on the line every day for us.

But their Commander in Chief and his legions of doom from the depths of hell must be removed from power. What these demonic, satanic people are doing to our military by rescinding the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is only the latest in a continuation of the emasculation of American military strength, as if the prohibition of flying the American Flag at American military compounds helping Haiti after the earthquake wasn't enough. Please remember this when you vote in November. No matter what, vote AGAINST the Democrats. By doing that, you will be voting FOR our men and women in uniform, and FOR America.

Attacks On Catholic Priests

Folks,

A lady at a local parish sent a link to the following story about how the Rockford, Illinois abortion mill continues vicious attacks on Catholic priests. We should all read this:

Attacks On Catholic Priest

Apparently America is a Democracy where "free speech" is welcome whenever that speech glorifies the filth of homosexual sodomy, the perversion of pornography or the murder of the unborn. But when "free speech" says, "Thou shalt NOT murder," then all the national socialist democrats begin their abuse.

Page 50 of the Platform of the US Democratic Party states:

The Democratic Party strongly and unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to choose a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay, and we oppose any and all efforts to weaken or undermine that right.

Every single Democrat who, knowing that this is in the party's platform, is an accomplice to murder and hence a murderer himself. A Democrat murders an unborn baby for no other reason than that the baby is unborn and unwanted - the Democrat wants to have sex like a baboon without any responsibility.

A Democrat is NO different than any of Adolf Hitler's worst Nazi who gassed innocent Jews for no other reason than that they were Jewish. A Democrat is NO different than any of Josef Stalin's Communists who shot and killed Ukranian Catholics for no other reason than that they were Ukranian Catholics. A Democrat cannot keep his zipper up or her legs closed when he or she does not want a baby. A Democrat has just got to have sex, wallow in filth like a wild animal, and then tell us that he or she has right to choose. Choose BEFORE sex, NOT afterwards. What are you? A wild beast unable to use the brains God created you with?

True, many Republicans aren't much better, BUT for all its faults, the Republican Party Platform opposes infanticide of the unborn. The ONLY way to rid America of abortion is to defeat every single Democrat from the Presidency, the Congress and the Supreme Court on down, and I nightly pray for that party's defeat - whatever it takes.

All or Nothing

Folks,

Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV has published a most appropriate video segment entitled, All or Nothing 05-28. By the example of a nun in Arizona who was excommunicated over her permission for doctors to perform an abortion to save the mother's life, he explains that one cannot murder one human being even if it is to save another human life. This kind of orthodox, black and whote decision can and will never be accepted by the liberal progressive crowd enmored by the false gospel of social justice, the common good and peace at any price. To them, Truth is changeable, and new truths are being discovered all the time, so the decisions made between right and wrong belong to the province of man (much as the serpent in the Garden of Eden beguiled Eve to partake of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil). Truth is NOT changeable, and NEW truths are not and by definition ANNOT be discovered for the very term - new truths - is self-contradictory and oxymoronic. Truth has ALWAYS existed since before space and time began and will continue to exist after the demise of the space-time structure that we call the universe. New truth is never discovered. Only THE one eternal Truth can be discovered (or rediscovered). Liberal progressives hate this because it removes from the legitimacy which they have assumed in challenging Church doctrine and authority, as though somehow science and technology gives credence to dissent and disobedience. Liberals and progressives hate rigor because they pridefully cannot stand to be confined in a system of thought that transcends their own pitiful minds. Exalting diversity and tolerance, they bend knee and bow head to the dictatorship of relativism, but Truth is NEVER relative.

There is only ONE Truth - Jesus Christ - and His Bride is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Accept the teaching or go join Bishopress Schori's collection of fruitcakes and nuts in the ECUSA.

Voted For Obama? Embarrassed Yet?

Folks,

The sign below is on highway 59, the main road through Marshall, Texas. The billboard is at the northeast corner of U.S. 59 and State Highway 43, across from Marshall High School . Marshall overwhelmingly voted for Obama last election. Maybe there is hope yet (or maybe somebody is twisting somebody's tail).

I will note that some say , "It really shouldn't matter because Obama will be in office for a while and people need to learn to respect him." Those who state this are the very same people who showed President George W. Bush the most vile, reprehensible and offensive disrespect to ever be shown to American President. Therefore, let us give their Idi Amin, their Pol Pot, their Kim Il Jong now sitting in the Oval Office, authorizing the murder of unborn babies and the legitimacy of homosexual filth, the very same respect. Let us disobey him, defy him, oppose him. Let his presidency be emasculated with every kind of paralyzing resistance so that he cannot continue to propagate his sinful deeds of utter wickedness. If we the people won't do it on our own accord with our actions and our votes, then God will with undersea oil ruptures, economic crises, and Icelandic volcanoes. The Atlantic hurricane season is yet to begin.

Billboard Asks if Obama Voters Are Embarrassed

The Epistle of Jude

Folks,

Today's Daily Scripture Reading began with Jude 17, 20b-25. Verses 18 and 19 of the only chapter in this epistle were omitted. These verses warn against scoffers who live according to their godless desires, and those who, devoid of the Spirit, cause divisions. So the reading was "dumbed down" to another rambling on love and mercy with no mention of justice and judgment. Indeed, it is NOT possible to have the first two without the second two. And further, the entire Epistle of Jude is most applicable to the Church in this day and age of apostasy and heresy, sexual promiscuity and idolatry whose satanic and daibolical smoke has infiltration the sacred halls of the Bride of Christ. Thus, I went to the translation called the Message and re-read this short Catholic Letter. This translation is very dynamic and non-literal. It is NOT technically accurate, BUT it certainly does give the feeling with St. Jude was trying to convey, and THAT is EXACTLY applicable to the state which we Catholics find ourselves in today. Is there a priest or bishop anywhere who will have to courage to say these words? (The question is rhetorical for I am sure there are - Father Corapi come to mind.)

Jude 1 (The Message)

1-2 I, Jude, am a slave to Jesus Christ and brother to James, writing to those loved by God the Father, called and kept safe by Jesus Christ. Relax, everything's going to be all right; rest, everything's coming together; open your hearts, love is on the way!

Fight with All You Have in You

3-4 Dear friends, I've dropped everything to write you about this life of salvation that we have in common. I have to write insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish. What has happened is that some people have infiltrated our ranks (our Scriptures warned us this would happen), who beneath their pious skin are shameless scoundrels. Their design is to replace the sheer grace of our God with sheer license—which means doing away with Jesus Christ, our one and only Master.

Lost Stars in Outer Space

5-7 I'm laying this out as clearly as I can, even though you once knew all this well enough and shouldn't need reminding. Here it is in brief: The Master saved a people out of the land of Egypt. Later he destroyed those who defected. And you know the story of the angels who didn't stick to their post, abandoning it for other, darker missions. But they are now chained and jailed in a black hole until the great Judgment Day. Sodom and Gomorrah, which went to sexual rack and ruin along with the surrounding cities that acted just like them, are another example. Burning and burning and never burning up, they serve still as a stock warning.

8 This is exactly the same program of these latest infiltrators: dirty sex, rule and rulers thrown out, glory dragged in the mud.

9-11 The Archangel Michael, who went to the mat with the Devil as they fought over the body of Moses, wouldn't have dared level him with a blasphemous curse, but said simply, "No you don't. God will take care of you!" But these people sneer at anything they can't understand, and by doing whatever they feel like doing—living by animal instinct only—they participate in their own destruction. I'm fed up with them! They've gone down Cain's road; they've been sucked into Balaam's error by greed; they're canceled out in Korah's rebellion.

12-13 These people are warts on your love feasts as you worship and eat together. They're giving you a black eye—carousing shamelessly, grabbing anything that isn't nailed down. They're—

Puffs of smoke pushed by gusts of wind;
late autumn trees stripped clean of leaf and fruit,
Doubly dead, pulled up by the roots;
wild ocean waves leaving nothing on the beach
but the foam of their shame;
Lost stars in outer space
on their way to the black hole.

14-16 Enoch, the seventh after Adam, prophesied of them: "Look! The Master comes with thousands of holy angels to bring judgment against them all, convicting each person of every defiling act of shameless sacrilege, of every dirty word they have spewed of their pious filth." These are the "grumpers," the bellyachers, grabbing for the biggest piece of the pie, talking big, saying anything they think will get them ahead.

17-19 But remember, dear friends, that the apostles of our Master, Jesus Christ, told us this would happen: "In the last days there will be people who don't take these things seriously anymore. They'll treat them like a joke, and make a religion of their own whims and lusts." These are the ones who split churches, thinking only of themselves. There's nothing to them, no sign of the Spirit!

20-21 But you, dear friends, carefully build yourselves up in this most holy faith by praying in the Holy Spirit, staying right at the center of God's love, keeping your arms open and outstretched, ready for the mercy of our Master, Jesus Christ. This is the unending life, the real life!

22-23 Go easy on those who hesitate in the faith. Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven.

24-25 And now to him who can keep you on your feet, standing tall in his bright presence, fresh and celebrating—to our one God, our only Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Master, be glory, majesty, strength, and rule before all time, and now, and to the end of all time. Yes.

Migration Policies: Open To Life And Respect For Families

Folks,

Yesterday "...the Pope received participants in the plenary session of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, who have been meeting to study the theme: 'The pastoral care of human mobility today, in the context of the co-responsibility of States and International Organisations.'" The Vatican's full report may be read at "Migration Policies: Open To Life And Respect For Families." The Catholic Culture web site reports the Pontiff's talk as Pope says immigration policy should balance individual rights, national sovereignty. While that is literally true, it gives a skewed point of view. It correctly reports that "...the Pope said that laws should favor 'the legitimate right to family reunion, asylum and refuge, compensating any necessary restrictive measures, and contrasting the deplorable traffic in human beings.'" But neglecting to quote the last paragraph (below) while expressly highlighting the former statement within the Vatican's news report makes it seem as though the Pontiff favors a Marxist view and implementation of social justice and the common good, yet we see from the following words that nothing could be further from the truth:

"Openness to life and the rights of the family must be reiterated in various contexts", said the Pope. "The future of our societies rests on the encounter between peoples, on dialogue between cultures while respecting identities and legitimate differences. In this scenario, the family maintains its fundamental role. Thus the Church, by announcing the Gospel of Christ in all areas of life, carries forward her commitment 'not only in favour of the individual migrant, but also of his family, which is a place and resource of the culture of life and a factor for the integration of values'".

If my poor ability to discern Latin words in Italian text has any accuracy, the Pontiff's actual statement is as follows:

“…l’apertura alla vita e i diritti della famiglia devono essere ribaditi nei diversi contesti… L’avvenire delle nostre società poggia sull'incontro tra i popoli, sul dialogo tra le culture nel rispetto delle identità e delle legittime differenze. In questo scenario la famiglia mantiene il suo ruolo fondamentale. Perciò la Chiesa, con l’annuncio del Vangelo di Cristo in ogni settore dell’esistenza, porta avanti ‘l'impegno… a favore non solo dell'individuo migrante, ma anche della sua famiglia, luogo e risorsa della cultura della vita e fattore di integrazione di valori’…”

For any reader who may be able to effectively read text in the Italian language, the Pope's speech may be read at: Discorso Del Santo Padre Benedetto XVI Ai Partecipanti All'assemblea Plenaria Del Pontificio Consiglio Della Pastorale Per I Migranti E Gli Itineranti. As most readers may by now be aware, I can manage - somewhat fitfully - only dead languages: Koine Greek, Latin and Fortran-77.   ;-)

We're Too Broke To Be This Incompetent

Folks,

The following commentary is from Dr. Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor web site. In it the Creeps are the Republicans and the Nuts are the Democrats (or perhaps its vice versa - I get so confused). Dr. Pournelle notes that November's election may be the most important one since the Civil War more than one and a half centuries previous. If as I suspect the Obamination of Desolation is dealt with a deadly political blow at the election polls, then he will NOT willingly surrender power or even cooperate with the opposition to be (hopefully) voted into Congress. This will then become a prelude to the Second Civil War. So saddle up, folks, "clean your rifles and keep your powder dry," for as Lawrence Auster notes at View from the Right, such is the face of a black despot (think of murderous Idi Amin, for Obamolech murders unborn babies).

We're Too Broke To Be This Incompetent

The runaway undersea oil gusher may or may not be in check but this is Obama's Katrina and then some. It's probably said about as well as can be by Peggy Noonan in her column "He Was Supposed to be Competent." Obama is not only incompetent in the sense of not being able to do things very well, but he turns out to be incompetent politically. He can't even put on a show of being in charge.

The president, in my view, continues to govern in a way that suggests he is chronically detached from the central and immediate concerns of his countrymen. This is a terrible thing to see in a political figure, and a startling thing in one who won so handily and shrewdly in 2008. But he has not, almost from the day he was inaugurated, been in sync with the center. The heart of the country is thinking each day about A, B and C, and he is thinking about X, Y and Z. They're in one reality, he's in another.

This is perhaps political good news and bodes well for November, but it's not good news for the country. The obvious incompetence of the President is apparent to everyone, enemies and allies, tempting the one and discouraging the other, and that bodes badly for all of us in coming years. The collapse of American hegemony was predictable and predicted. I am hardly alone in pointing our that we have been sowing the wind for decades, and we may expect to reap the whirlwind. That hardly makes me feel better as things inevitably get worse and the whirlwind approaches.

Mark Steyn points out that "We're too broke to be this stupid."

It's all true. The November election may be the most important since the Civil War. Either there will be a fundamental change, casting out the Creeps and the Nuts and the Desperate like Crist of Florida, or we are in real trouble. If we throw out the Democrats and bring back the Creeps we won't have changed things much. If we don't cut into what the Nuts thought were utterly safe districts we won't have changed things much.

The coming election is crucial. We have sown the wind. We will reap the whirlwind. We must prepare for that, and the preparation must include changing directions. When you are in a hole the first thing is to stop digging.

=============

The main lesson of the BP runaway gusher is that we must rebuild the Civil Defense organization. There are predictable potential disasters in every region, and it is clear that FEMA in particular and Washington in general is not competent to handle them. Yes, the oil disaster is a national disaster and would be were it in California or in the Gulf; but the organization of the resources of the region needs to be done in advance, and with local chains of communication and command. Yes, there needs to be research and development done before the disasters, but again, those who live in the areas will have thought more about it then someone in the old NASA building in Washington. FEMA is a disaster waiting to happen. Make that, FEMA is a disaster that has happened, is happening, and is waiting to happen again. We will always be disappointed in FEMA.

Obama may or may not have plugged the hole -- clearly he hasn't yet since I don't hear the shouts of self-praise -- but is anyone thinking of how to organize for the next time?

We need Civil Defense. We need it now more than ever.

Diversity is a Dud!

Folks,

Michael Voris latest video from Real Catholic TV is right on the mark today. Diversity of belief and thought with respect to God, spirituality, morals, and ethics is destroying Western civilization. There is only ONE Truth - Jesus Christ - and the Keys to the Kingdom have been given to only ONE Church (Matthew 16:19).

Many times I hear the statement, "Well your truth isn't my truth," or "Your Higher Power isn't my Higher Power." So comes confusion regarding morals and ethics. Hence we now have the right to choose instead of calling it what it is: infanticide. Hence we have equal marriage rights instead of calling it what is is: sexual perversion. Let those who support Obama's dictatorship of relativism, perversion, idolatry and murder recall that King Manasseh was carried away into captivity by a ring through his nose for similar crimes against the Almighty (2nd Kings 21 and 2nd Chronicles 33).

No diversity of morality. No tolerance of godlessness. No civil rights superseding individual rights. No democracy - two wolves and one sheep voting on what's for dinner. Jesus, ONLY Jesus, King, Lord and God of all.

Diversity is a Dud

More Thoughts on Today's Readings

Folks,

The following commentary is from the reflections provided by the My Catholic web site for today's Gospel reading from Mark 10:46-52. It is most appropriate, and a test that each of us may yet have to complete.

Bartimaeus "threw aside his cloak, jumped up and came to Jesus." –Mark 10:50

Blind Bartimaeus is sitting by the Jericho roadside. There's a big crowd following Jesus as He passes by. Bartimaeus may be blind, but with eyes of faith he sees that Jesus is the Messiah, that is, the "Son of David" (Mk 10:47). He also realizes that Jesus is merciful, so he cries to Jesus, "Have pity on me!" (Mk 10:48)

When Jesus calls him over, Bartimaeus throws aside his cloak (Mk 10:50). This is a tremendous act of faith for a blind man. His cloak is his only means of staying warm. If Jesus does not heal him of blindness, he may never be able to find that cloak again in such a big crowd. In addition, by throwing aside his cloak, Bartimaeus can't prevent someone from stealing it. By throwing aside his cloak, Bartimaeus professes his faith in Jesus far more loudly than any words he screamed.

The way we live screams to the world whether or not we believe Jesus is Lord of our life. What are you holding onto? Is there something you need to throw aside before you are free enough to come to Jesus? Throw it away, and "get up," for Jesus "is calling you" (Mk 10:49-50).

PRAYER: Jesus, I will consider everything I have to be "rubbish" so that You can be my Lord (Phil 3:8).

PROMISE: "You too are living stones, built as an edifice of spirit, into a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." –1 Pt 2:5

PRAISE: St. Augustine brought King Ethelbert into the Church and, with him, much of Great Britain.

The Rock Tells the Faithful to be Like Living Stones

Folks,

Today's reading from the Epistles included 1st Peter 2:5:

Et ipsi tamquam lapides vivi superaedificamini domus spiritalis sacerdotium sanctum offerre spiritales hostias acceptabiles Deo per Iesum Christum.

or

Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Here the Rock is telling the people within his flock to be like living stones. I found the imagery interesting, given what Matthew 16:18 says:

Et ego dico tibi quia tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversum eam.

or

And I say to thee: That thou art [Rock]; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Give that the first verse in today's readings - 1st Peter 2:2 - describes the recipients of this epistle as newborn babes, what could possible be infants of a Rock but stones?

Sicut modo geniti infantes rationale sine dolo lac concupiscite ut in eo crescatis in salutem.

or

As newborn babes, desire the rational milk without guile, that thereby you may grow unto salvation.

Depression

Folks,

Sometimes depression seizes each of us at one time or another, and the past few days have been my turn. So Job chapter 7 in the Divine Office of the Liturgy of the Hours seemed to speak my story. Then I went on to read in the Divine Office chapters 26 through 29 in Book 10 of the Confessions of St. Augustine, and lo and behold there appeared the answer. I cannot say that I feel any better, BUT as this Saint declared, "...my whole hope is only in Your exceeding great mercy."

Chapter 26. God Everywhere Answers Those Who Take Counsel of Him.

37. Where, then, did I find You, so as to be able to learn You? For You were not in my memory before I learned You. Where, then, did I find You, so as to be able to learn You, but in You above me? Place there is none; we go both “backward” and “forward,” [Job 23:8] and there is no place. Everywhere, O Truth, do You direct all who consult You, and at once answer all, though they consult You on various things. Clearly do You answer, though all do not with clearness hear. All consult You upon whatever they wish, though they hear not always that which they wish. He is Your best servant who does not so much look to hear that from You which he himself wishes, as to wish that which he hears from You.

Chapter 27. He Grieves that He Was So Long Without God.

38. Too late did I love You, O Fairness, so ancient, and yet so new! Too late did I love You! For behold, You were within, and I without, and there did I seek You; I, unlovely, rushed heedlessly among the things of beauty You made. You were with me, but I was not with You. Those things kept me far from You, which, unless they were in You, were not. You called, and cried aloud, and forced open my deafness. You gleamed and shine, and chase away my blindness. You exhaled odours, and I drew in my breath and do pant after You. I tasted, and do hunger and thirst. You touched me, and I burned for Your peace.

Chapter 28. On the Misery of Human Life.

39. When I shall cleave unto You with all my being, then shall I in nothing have pain and labour; and my life shall be a real life, being wholly full of You. But now since he whom Thou fillest is the one Thou liftest up, I am a burden to myself, as not being full of You. Joys of sorrow contend with sorrows of joy; and on which side the victory may be I know not. Woe is me! Lord, have pity on me. My evil sorrows contend with my good joys; and on which side the victory may be I know not. Woe is me! Lord, have pity on me. Woe is me! Lo, I hide not my wounds; You are the Physician, I the sick; Thou merciful, I miserable. Is not the life of man upon earth a temptation? Who is he that wishes for vexations and difficulties? You command them to be endured, not to be loved. For no man loves what he endures, though he may love to endure. For notwithstanding he rejoices to endure, he would rather there were naught for him to endure. In adversity, I desire prosperity; in prosperity, I fear adversity. What middle place, then, is there between these, where human life is not a temptation? Woe unto the prosperity of this world, once and again, from fear of misfortune and a corruption of joy! Woe unto the adversities of this world, once and again, and for the third time, from the desire of prosperity; and because adversity itself is a hard thing, and makes shipwreck of endurance! Is not the life of man upon earth a temptation, and that without intermission?

Chapter 29. All Hope is in the Mercy of God.

40. And my whole hope is only in Your exceeding great mercy. Give what You command, and command what You will. Thou imposest continency upon us, “nevertheless, when I perceived,” says one, “that I could not otherwise obtain her, except God gave her me; . . . that was a point of wisdom also to know whose gift she was.” [Wisdom 8:21] For by continency are we bound up and brought into one, whence we were scattered abroad into many. For he loves You too little who loves anything with You, which he loves not for You, O love, who ever burnest, and art never quenched! O charity, my God, kindle me! You command continency; give what You command, and command what You will.

The Roman Cafeteria is Closed!

Folks,

Today's installment from Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV is provided below:

The Roman Cafeteria is closed!

Some Belated Thoughts on Pentecost

Folks,

When this last weekend I read the Vigil and Sunday Scripture readings for Pentecost, the following thoughts occurred to me.

In Genesis 11:1-9 God confused mankind's language because of mankind's audacity in striving to build a tower to the heavens. Thus was mankind scattered throughout all the Earth. In Acts chapter 2 God again caused men to speak in different languages. But this time the purpose was different. The Holy Spirit descended on those in the Upper Room and they began to speak in the various languages native to the many visitors to Jerusalem from foreign lands for the Feast of Pentecost so that those from afar off could be won to the Gospel. In Genesis the multiplicity of languages was done for confusion to prevent the exaltation of mankind's prideful ambition. In Acts the multiplicity of languages was done for conversion of lost souls and unity under the Gospel.

Often I am asked by my Pentecostal friends if I have been baptized in ythe Holy Spirit as evidenced by an emotional babbling in an unknown tongue. This advocacy is done regardless of Jesus' injunction in Matthew 6:7-8:

In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

In fact, my Pentecostal friends use these very verses to decry the Catholic practice of recitation of the perfectly intelligible Rosary in the vernacular while ignoring the non-understandable babbling they perform at length in their church services. Now that does NOT mean that the Holy Spirit doesn't move among them, giving them an ability to speak in angelic languages. We cannot judge that, nor should we. BUT we must heed St. Paul's admonition in 1st Corinthians chapter 14 against spreading confusion that speaking in tongues without interpretation causes the newcomer in the Church. Verses 23 and 24 are quite explicit with regard to this:

So if the whole church meets in one place and everyone speaks in tongues, and then uninstructed people or unbelievers should come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if everyone is prophesying, and an unbeliever or uninstructed person should come in, he will be convinced by everyone and judged by everyone...

In fact, one could argue that if a newcomer enters the Church before Mass or service begins and there is public recitation of the Holy Rosary in the vernacular, then that would be far more consistent with St. Paul's admonition to the Church at Corinth than the unintelligible and emotional babble that is said to characterize Baptism by the Holy Spirit. At least people would UNDERSTAND what is being said.

One last thing: this Baptism is actually the Sacrament of Confirmation practiced in Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Whether Pentecostals, in denying the Sacraments, actually have this "gift" is something we cannot judge. The true gift of Pentecost isn't emotional babbling. Does not the gift include the ability to speak - witness - to others with reason about the Faith? Why else would the Apostles be empowered to speak in languages others could understand (Persian, Arabic, Greek, Latin, Germanic, etc.) unless it was to speak to all these people with reason about the Faith? If we can't speak with reason (i.e., intelligence), then we will never win anyone to the Gospel.

Step It Up, Laity!

Folks,

Michael Voris' latest installment from Real Catholic TV may be found below:

Step It Up, Laity!

How Do Subsidiarity and Solidarity Work?

Folks,

Please read the following to understand how subsidiarity and solidarity really work for social justice and the common good:

It Take a Village

My friend Catawissa Gazetteer has gone and done it again, stealing my thunder! More power to him!

Discord and Dissention

Folks,

A few Bible verses came to me today regarding the discord and dissention which often accompanies change. St. Paul wrote to the Church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 12:20:

For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

And he admonished the Church at Philippi with these words in Philippians 2:3:

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

And St. James wrote the following in verses 14 through 16 within chapter 3 of his epistle:

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

I think from time to time we need to be reminded of these words when change comes to our individual parishes. Often I don't like change, or even the bringer thereof. But what is worse is facing dissention and discord from the very ones whom I love, admire and respect the most. That is most depressing, and often that dissention and discord is brought about because of either a desire for power or a regret for power lost. How sad - the whole point is perhaps best summed up in the First Three Steps of any typical 12 Step Program:

1. We admitted we became powerless, and that our lives became unmanageable.
2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Our example of how to do this is also in Philippians, verses 5 through 8:

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Sadly, however, the example of a humble servant is lost on many of us - we prefer the role of manipulative controller. When you stop and think about it, that's alcoholic behavior without the alcohol.

Michael Voris from the Vatican

Folks,

Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV reports today from the Vatican:

From the Eternal City 05-24

Pope Benedict XVI's Words to the Centisimus Annus Foundation

Folks,

The address that Pope Benedict XVI delivered Saturday upon receiving in audience the participants in the 2010 International Conference of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation is titled "Development, Progress and Common Good." Most liberal progressives within the Church (and outside, too, for that matter) will focus on the Holy Father's words concerning social justice and the common good, distorting what he said into the same Marxist ideals held by their messiah, the Obamination of Desolation. But the second to the last paragraph is likely to be ignored, and it is the most important:

The notion of integral human development presupposes precise principles, such as subsidiarity and solidarity, as well as the interdependence between state, society and market. In a global society, made up of many peoples and various religions, the common good and integral development are obtained with the contribution of all. Religion is decisive in this, especially when it teaches fraternity and peace, and when, in a society marked by secularization, it instructs the faithful to give space to God and to be open to the transcendent. With the exclusion of religion from the public realm, as well as religious fundamentalism, the encounter and collaboration for the progress of humanity between peoples is impeded, the life of a society is void of motivation, and politics assumes an oppressive and aggressive face (cf. Ibid., 56).

Please left click your mouse cursor on the following links to read and study Centesimus Annus and its predecessor Rerum Novarum instead of relying on sound bites and distortions from the liberal press. What the Church means by the terms social justice and the common good is NOT what the secular world means. Distinctions are important.

Ramblings

Folks,

Sometimes in the heat of battle I say things that I do not mean. I get so mad at liberals and progressives for what they are doing to the country I love. They support abortion, calling it the right to choose. They support the filth of homosexual sodomy, calling it tolerance and civil rights. They teach sexual promiscuity to our young, calling it sex education. They support pornography, calling it freedom of speech, but deny the same to Holy Mother Church when she opposes the sin of baby-murdering and gay marriage in the public square. They are destroying everything that was Christian in our country. So sometimes I say things that I don't mean. That, however, does NOT excuse them of damning their own souls and those of our young to hell by such idolatry and promiscuity.

True, few Republicans have been better mannered in behavior, which is why I favor the US Constitution Party. BUT this isn't a matter of politics. It's a matter of whether our nation lives or dies. It is inconceivable that otherwise smart and knowledgeable nuclear engineers at certain blogsites knowingly support an apostate President who legitimatizes the infanticide of the unborn, and then say that such a man is admirable. Such people, being well-educated, KNOW better. It is inconceivable that they would argue this individual supports nuclear energy when his track record is one of dismantling American industry with socialist policies and programs. It is inconceivable to say that he is an embattled President while ignoring that all the major liberal news media always comes to his defense, belittling and deriding any who oppose him - the same new media who battled his predecessor, and reviled, condemned and ridiculed him with all manner of invective.

Folks, I am not in the right when I react in anger against such utter nonsense. But I simply cannot stand the worship that some otherwise super intelligent people in the nuclear industry give that baby-murdering Nazi antichrist who is in the Oval Office. I suppose I can only refer to what St. Paul said so long ago: ever learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. I pray that such people repent before it is too late and that they do NOT damn their souls to hell. More importantly, I pray for the poor little innocent unborn babies whose very existence such people, so ever knowledgeble in science and engineering and technology, threaten. What kind of person, no matter how smart, thinks that an unborn baby doesn't have a right to live? And why exactly is that person's soul NOT damned to hell if he fails to repent?

Arrgghh!

Looking After a Eucharistic Miracle

Folks,

A dear friend at my parish sent me a copy of the account of an Eucharistic miracle that occurred at the Basilica of St. Francis in the city of Siena, Italy. This account may be read at the Zenit News Agency's article, Looking After a Eucharistic Miracle.

On August 14, 1730 (eve of the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary) some thieves broke into the Basilica to steal the gold chalice which (unknow to them) had within it consecrated hosts (i.e., the Body of our Lord). When the theft was discovered the next day, the inhabitants of Siena began to pray so that the hosts would be recovered. Three days later inside a box for donations at the church the stolen hosts were discovered. They were cleaned for adoration and reparation. Only a few were subsequently distributed at Holy Communion later on. Today, 223 hosts remain in the same pristine state as they had at consecration 280 years ago. In 1914 a rigorous examination of this miracle was carried out by order of Pope St. Pius X and the Sacred Hosts turned out to be in perfect state of consistency, lucid, white, perfumed and intact. For almost three centuries there has been no decay. That cannot be unless these hosts are the Body and Blood, Soul nad Dvinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Many such Eucharistic Miracles have taken place. More information on these can be found at the following web links:

The Real Presence: Eucharistic Miracles

Eucharistic Miracles: Evidence of the Real Presence

Thus did my friend ask in her communication, "What I don't understand is how there can be so many Eucharistic miracles around and they are ignored. How can one discount what one sees, or another way of phrasing it is, REALITY? How did the people not believe Lazarus, raised from the dead?"

As my friend noted, the miracle of the raising of Lazarus from the dead did indeed fail to persuade the Judaic religious leaders of the first century. Instead of causing the Pharisees and Sadducees to believe, this event cemented their hostility against Jesus. Fascinatingly, the story of a different Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 tells us why they disbelieved then, and why Protestants and pagans disbelieve today:

Most of us already the story. A rich man (who had all he wanted in this life) and Lazarus (whose sores were licked by dogs) both died. The rich man went to hell and Lazarus to Abraham's bosom. The rich man pled with Abraham to send someone to warn his five rich brothers about hell, and Abraham pointed out that they had Moses and the prophets to warn them. But the rich man, being in torment, persisted:

"...father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent."

And what was Abraham's response?

"If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead."

Today in like fashion, the "Protesters" (which is what the name "Protestant" really means) and pagans remain unconvinced, Eucharistic miracles, Jesus' resurrection from the dead, and Jesus' own words in the Gospel notwithstanding. Ironically, the fundamentalist Evangelicals and Pentecostals who make the biggest stink of all "Protesters" against the Eucharist as some sort of pagan ritual vociferously believe in and proclaim the literal interpretation of Moses' words in Genesis 1 and 2 regarding the creation of the universe in six days 6000 years ago. They do this in the face of ALL scientific evidence to the contrary (see Pope Pius XII's Humani Generis for a detailed explanation on Creation versus evolution). Yet they refuse to accept the literal interpretation of the words of our Blessed Lord and Savior Himself regarding His Body and Blood. Surely the Creator of all that there is, having created out of nothing everything there is for more than 13.73 billion light years around us (it's actually about 40 billion light years due to inflation of space-time just after the event horizon "exploded" in the Big Bang), can change a mere morsel of bread and a drop of wine into His Son's Body and Blood?

As Catholics, however, we should note that, in a manner of speaking, we are summoned (as the Disciples were in Jesus' day) to take the place of Moses and the prophets, and continue to explain to our separated Protestant brothers and sisters the truth of the Eucharist. Currently, however, I despair of succeeding with today's post-modern, neo-pagan, secular humanists, but just as God continues to work Eucharistic miracles, He can work miracles in a hardened heart.

Now Eucharistic miracles confirm us who are Catholic in our Faith, but have no credibility with Protestants. The ONLY thing that has credibility with them is Scripture, and (as we all know) Scripture comes from Holy Mother Church. That's why we have to be as versed in Scripture as we should be in Tradition and the Teaching of the Magisterium. Truth rests on the three legged stool of:

1. Sacred Scripture (2nd Timothy 3:16)
2. Sacred Tradition (2nd Thessalonians 2:15)
3. The Church Herself (1st Timothy 3:15)

As for the pagans, I am unsure what has credibility with them. Pray that their hearts are softened, for hardened hearts can brittle facture just as carbon steel can once its temperature is below the nil ductility point.

Smoking Guns: Nuclear and Fossil Energy

Folks,

The hypocrisy of liberal progressive Democrats is amazing. For forty years they have worked with pagan nature worshippers against the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Now that a few of them are supposedly pro-nuclear, every time a Republican congressman or senator backtracks on his support for loan guarantees, that becomes a "smoking gun" ostensibly favoring fossil fuel over nuclear energy - never mind that it was initiatives under a Republican Presidency (George Bush) that instilled new life into America's nuclear energy industry. Now that their baby-murdering, sodomy-extolling antichrist has been elected into the Oval Office, they jump at every chance to denigrate the best supporters of the nuclear energy industry: Conservatives and Republicans.

How can liberal progressive Democrats who claim to be pro-nuclear ignore:

That the biggest supporter of their President in the last election was British Petroleum whose oil is now leaking into the Gulf of Mexico with devastating environmental results?

That their President was the one who lifted the ban on offshore oil drilling just before the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico?

That under their President Democrat politicians in Vermont voted to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant after 2012?

That under their President Democrat politicians in NY State voted to deny the Indian Point nuclear power plants a cooling water permit they have had for more than 40 years, thereby forcing them to shutdown?

That their President appointed an anti-nuclear activist - Gregory Jackzo - to be NRC Chairman and demoting pro-nuclear Dale Klein who was force to later leave?

That Gregory Jackzo worked for Representative Ed Markey against the Pilgrim nuclear power station and for Senator Harry Reid against the Yucca Mountain geologic repository?

That it was a Democrat Administration (Jimmy Carter's) which forbade recycling and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, and at the same mandated a national geologic repository (paid for by the industry out of money from the rate payers - you and me - to the tune of 30 billion dollars) which Democrats subsequently reneged on?

That for 40 years the Democrat Party was controlled by and beholden to antinuclear activists, and now we are supposed to believe it is pro-nuclear?

But the worst thing about Democrats is NOT their anti-nuclearism, or their policy of no solutions. The worst thing is that Democrats within their own national platform explicitly support the murdering of unborn babies as the right to choose. Thus, they are NO different than their spiritual forefathers, the Nazis who murdered Jews in gas chambers for no other reason than that they were Jews.

The smoking gun, my friends, is the burning flesh of unborn babies whom Democrats sacrifice on the altar of political expedience, known in ancient times as the Canaanite god Molech.

As I have always maintained, the best Democrat is the defeated, muzzled and emasculated Democrat. November is coming and the Tea Partiers whom the elitist liberal progresives at Atomic Insights and NEI Nuclear Notes ridicule are going to teach the Democrat Party a lesson as it (hopefully) loses House and Senate.

John 6:64

Folks,

Abigail, one of my students in this last year’s Catechism Class (a very astute and observant young lady indeed) noticed during her reading of John chapter 6 that a significant difference exists between how Protestants translate and view verse 64, and how the Catholic Church translates and views this verse. This difference, as she has rightly concluded, has led to all manner of misconceptions and errors on the part of Protestants (particularly Evangelical and Pentecostal Protestants) regarding the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. As a result, they have denied the very words that Jesus Himself said so long ago in John 6:56-57:

“For my flesh, is meat indeed: and my blood, is drink indeed: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him.” [Douay-Rheims Version (DRV)]

First, however, let us start with the Greek (GRK) itself for the verse in question – John 6:64. This verse states:

“τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν τὸ ζῳοποιοῦν, ἡ σὰρξ οὐκ ὠφελεῖ οὐδέν· τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ἐγὼ λελάληκα ὑμῖν πνεῦμά ἐστιν καὶ ζωή ἐστιν.”

St. Jerome in the Latin Vulgate (LV) translates this as follows:

“Spiritus est qui vivificat caro non prodest quicquam verba quae ego locutus sum vobis spiritus et vita sunt.”

In the DRV the verse then becomes:

“It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life.”

The Catholic New American Bible (NAB) follows suit:

“It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

However, the Protestant Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) gives the following translation:

“The Spirit is the One who gives life. The flesh doesn't help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Note the capitalization of the English word for the Greek “πνεῦμά” and the Latin “spiritus.” This small difference leads the editors for the Apologetics Study Bible version of the HCSB to state the following:

“Based on these verses [6:52-59], critics of the early church thought Christians condoned a form of cannibalism. This is not the case. The reference here is two fold, both foreshadowing the Lord’s Supper and emphasizing complete submission to Jesus as Lord. To many insiders, it has seems as if the Lord’s supper was requirements for salvation. But verse 64 makes it plain that only the Spirit gives life; Jesus’ flesh does not do so. These are simply striking metaphors for identifying with Christ in His atoning death for the sins of humanity.”

Thus do Protestants, by the capitalization of a single word, negate Jesus’ statement in verses 54 and 55:

“Amen, amen I say to you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (DRV)

Interestingly enough, Protestant translations (like the Catholic ones) leave the second instance of "spirit" in verse 64 [the words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life] de-capitalized. So one wonders on what authority do they decide to capitalize the first instance [it is the Spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing] and NOT the second. The Greek word "πνεῦμά" is NOT capitalized in either case, and the ONLY reason its Latin equivalent "Spiritus" is capitalized in the first place is because it forms the beginning of the sentence where words are appropriately capitalized.

I have checked and discovered that this same error is repeated in the Protestant King James Version (KJV), the New King James Version (NKJV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the English Standard Version (ESV) and the New International Version (NIV). BUT the error does NOT exist in the Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version (RSVCE), the DRV, the NAB, or the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB).

Now Father George C. Haydock explains in his Commentary of 1859 what verse 63 means:

“The flesh profiteth nothing. Dead flesh, separated from the spirit, in the gross manner they supposed they were to eat his flesh, would profit nothing. Neither doth man's flesh, that is to say, man's natural and carnal apprehension, (which refuses to be subject to the spirit, and words of Christ) profit anything. But it would be the height of blasphemy, to say the living flesh of Christ (which we receive in the blessed sacrament, with his spirit, that is, with his soul and divinity) profiteth nothing. For if Christ's flesh had profited us nothing, he would never have taken flesh for us, nor died in the flesh for us. --- Are spirit and life. By proposing to you a heavenly sacrament, in which you shall receive, in a wonderful manner, spirit, grace and life. These words sufficiently correct the gross and carnal imagination of these Capharnaites, that he meant to give them his body and blood to eat in a visible and bloody manner, as flesh, says St. Augustine, is sold in the market, and in the shambles, but they do not imply a figurative or metaphorical presence only. The manner of Christ's presence is spiritual and under the outward appearances of bread and wine; but yet he is there truly and really present, by a change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of his body and blood, which truly and really become our spiritual food, and are truly and really received in the holy sacrament. --- The flesh of itself profiteth nothing, not even the flesh of our Saviour Christ, were it not united to the divine person of Christ. But we must take care how we understand these words spoken by our Saviour: for it is certain, says St. Augustine, that the word made flesh, is the cause of all our happiness. (Witham) --- When I promise you life if you eat my flesh, I do not wish you to understand this of that gross and carnal manner, of cutting my members in pieces: such ideas are far from my mind: the flesh profiteth nothing. In the Scriptures, the word flesh is often put for the carnal manner of understanding anything. If you wish to enter into the spirit of my words, raise your hearts to a more elevated and spiritual way of understanding them. (Calmet) --- The reader may consult Des Mahis, p. 165, a convert from Protestantism, and who has proved the Catholic doctrine on the Eucharist in the most satisfactory manner, from the written word. Where he shows that Jesus Christ, speaking of his own body, never says the flesh, but my flesh: the former mode of expression is used to signify, as we have observed above, a carnal manner of understanding anything.”

This is so obvious that it is blinding: The Bread and Wine at the Consecration of the Holy Eucharist become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. They become flesh AND spirit. What Jesus was explaining so long ago to the Jews is that at the Eucharist one does NOT eat dead flesh, BUT Jesus’ living flesh, hence John 6:51-52:

“I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread which I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world.”

Now if every adult Catholic had the perceptivity and powers of observation that my 14 year old friend has, then there would be no problems with liberalism and progressivism in the Church. I am proud to have been an instructor for Abigail. With young men and ladies like her, our Church yet continues to go forward into the future as the Holy Bride of Jesus Christ, the forces of evil and darkness in today’s neo-pagan, post-modern society notwithstanding.

Tonight's Humor - The Airport Solution

Folks,

I received the following from a former co-worker at a nuclear power plant in the northeast. Enjoy!

The Airport Solution

Here's a solution to all the controversy over full-body scanners at the airports.

Have a booth that you can step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on you.

It would be a win-win for everyone, and there would be none of this crap about racial profiling, and this method would eliminate a long and expensive trial. Justice would be quick and swift.

Case closed!

This is so simple that it's brilliant. I can see it now: you're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system, "Attention standby passengers, we now have a seat available on flight number..."

Works for me!

Pontiff's Address to Laity Council Meeting

Pontiff's Address to Laity Council Meeting

"Politics Is a Very Important Realm for the Exercise of Charity"

VATICAN CITY, MAY 21, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today to the members of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, which met this week in Rome for its 24th plenary assembly. The theme of the meeting was "Witnesses of Christ in the Political Community."

* * *

Cardinals,
Venerated Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I welcome all of you with joy, Members and Consultors, participants in the 24th Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. I address a cordial greeting to the president, Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, thanking him for the courteous words he addressed to me, to the secretary, Bishop Josef Clemens, and to all those present.

The composition itself of your dicastery, where, together with the pastors, a majority of lay faithful work from the whole world and from the most different situations and experiences, offers a significant image of the organic community that is the Church, whose common priesthood, proper of the baptized faithful, and the ordained priesthood, sink their roots in the one priesthood of Christ, according to essentially different modalities, but ordered one to the other.

Having arrived almost at the conclusion of the Year for Priests, we feel ourselves even more grateful witnesses of the amazing and generous donation and dedication of so many men "conquered" by Christ and configured to him in the ordained priesthood. Day after day, they accompany the path of the "Christifideles Laici," proclaiming the Word of God, communicating his forgiveness and reconciliation with Him, calling to prayer and offering as nourishment the Lord's Body and Blood. It is from this mystery of communion that the faithful draw the profound energy to be witnesses of Christ in all the concretion and density of their lives, in all their activities and environments.

The theme of your Assembly: "Witnesses of Christ in the Political Community," is of particular importance. The technical formation of politicians certainly does not enter the mission of the Church. In fact, there are several institutions with this objective. However, her mission is "to give moral judgment also on things that pertain to the political order, when this is required by the fundamental rights of the person and the salvation of souls ... using only all those means that conform to the Gospel and the good of all, according to the diversity of the times and situations" ("Gaudium et Spes," 76).

The Church concentrates particularly on educating the disciples of Christ, so that, increasingly, they will be witnesses of his presence, everywhere. It is up to the laity to show concretely in personal and family life, in social, cultural and political life, that the faith enables one to read reality in a new and profound way and to transform it; that Christian hope extends the limited horizon of man and points him to the true loftiness of his being, to God; that charity in truth is the most effective force to change the world; that the Gospel is guarantee of liberty and message of liberation; that the fundamental principles of the Social Doctrine of the Church, such as the dignity of the human person, subsidiarity and solidarity, are very timely and of value for the promotion of new ways of development at the service of every man and of all men.

It is of the competence of the faithful also to participate actively in political life, in a way that is always consistent with the teachings of the Church, sharing well-founded reasons and great ideals in the democratic dialectic and in the search for ample consensus with all those concerned with the defense of life and liberty, the protection of truth and of the good of the family, solidarity with the needy and the necessary search for the common good. Christians do not seek political or cultural hegemony, but, wherever they are committed, they are moved by the certainty that Christ is the corner stone of every human construction (cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Doctrinal Note on Some Questions Related to the Involvement and Behavior of Catholics in Political Life, Nov. 24, 2002).

Taking up again the expression of my predecessors, I can also affirm that politics is a very important realm for the exercise of charity. The latter asks Christians for a strong commitment to the citizenry, for the construction of a good life in nations, as also for an effective presence in the headquarters and programs of the international community. Genuinely Christian politicians are necessary, but even more so lay faithful that are witnesses of Christ and of the Gospel in the civil and political community. This exigency should be very present in the educational itineraries of ecclesial communities and it requires new ways of accompaniment and support on the part of pastors. The membership of Christians in associations of the faithful, in ecclesial movements and new communities can be a good school for these disciples and witnesses, supported by the charismatic, community, educational and missionary richness proper to these realities.

It is an exacting challenge. The times we are living in place us before great and complex problems, and the social question has become, at the same time, an anthropological question. The ideological paradigms have collapsed that pretended, in the recent past, to be the "scientific" answer to this question. The spread of a confused cultural relativism and of utilitarian and hedonist individualism weakens democracy and fosters the dominance of the strong powers. A genuine political wisdom must be recovered and reinvigorated; to be exacting in what refers to one's own competence; to make critical use of the research of human sciences; to address reality in all its aspects, going beyond all ideological reductionism or utopian pretension; to show oneself open to all true dialogue and collaboration, keeping in mind that politics is also a complex art of balance between ideals and interests, but without ever forgetting that the contribution of Christians is decisive only if the intelligence of the faith becomes intelligence of the reality, key of judgment and of transformation. A real "revolution of love" is necessary.

The new generations have before them great demands and challenges in their personal and social life. Your dicastery follows them with particular attention, above all through the World Youth Days, which for 25 years have produced rich apostolic fruits among young people. Among these also is the social and political commitment, a commitment based not on ideologies or selfish interests, but on the choice to serve man and the common good, in the light of the Gospel.

Dear friends, while I invoke from the Lord abundant fruits for the works of this assembly and for your daily activity, I entrust each one of you, your families and communities to the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the New Evangelization, and I impart to you my heartfelt apostolic blessing.

Sorry, Mr. President: Socialism's not in the Bible

Folks,

John Aman, director of communications at Coral Ridge Ministries (A Presbyterian outfit if memory serves me right), has written at One News Now an appropriate editorial entitled,"Sorry, Mr. President: Socialism's not in the Bible." He shows how Marx and Engels themselves, the founders of the Marxist philosophy that has overtaken the Democratic Party, declared that Socialism is NOT in the Bible, contrary to Obama's claim.

What, however, is the most telling statement is this: Barack Obama says that the Bible tells him to be his brother's keeper, but his youngest half-brother lived in a shack in Kenya on $1 a day at the time he said this.

What Obama wants is this: for you and me to be taxed out of all our money so that we can be HIS brother's keeper, relieving him and his rich liberal friends of all responsibility to be decent human beings.

Exclusive Statement from the Knights of Columbus on Membership

Folks,

Tom Peters at the American Papist blogsite has an updated response from the K of C on allowing pro-abortion politicians to be members:

Exclusive Statement from the Knights of Columbus on Membership

The current excuse is that this organization doesn't want to go on a witch hunt. The organization states, "We leave the determination of who is a “practical” Catholic to the Church, and do not presume to substitute our own judgment for that of the bishop of each diocese. If the bishop considers a man to be a practicing Catholic in good standing, the Order does not attempt to second-guess his decision." The organization goes on to state, "Once a man becomes a brother Knight, our principles of charity, unity and fraternity require that we regard him as a brother in all respects, even when he may stray from the teachings of the Church. Our responsibility in such circumstances is to try to help him embrace the fullness of the Catholic faith." So are Nazis who want to murder Jews as welcome into the K of C as politicians are welcome who want to murder unborn babies? Is all they have to do is to say that they are a practical Catholic, and all their Bishop has to be is willing to ignore the obvious like some weak-kneed, yellow-bellied, cowardly social justice puke beholden to handouts from Caesar?

My comment is as follows (which like the previous will probably be moderated out):

Well, I can see my previous comment was moderated out. I guess pointing out that the national leadership of the K of C is more concerned with tax exempt status and profits from its insurance business is simply too true to be published here.

Look - the official platform of the Democratic Party supports abortion. So NO Catholic can possibly be Democratic and Catholic, let alone a Knight. Now to be a Democratic politician and pushing for the filth of gay marriage and the continued legality of murdering the unborn is an even WORSE crime, but even THAT doesn't get you kicked out of the K of C. So if I commit statutory rape with a 16 year old girl and am as unrepentent as these so-called Catholic politicians who are pro-abortion AND Knights, then I can stay a Knight, too?

There is NO difference between a Catholic politician who supports baby murdering and a Nazi who gased Jews during the 1930s and 40s. NONE! Would a Nazi be allowed to be K of C members as long as they were practical Catholics? Hitler was Catholic! Get real!

You know, I think I'll turn in my K of C card after this. It really doesn't mean anything at this point. I am utterly ashamed of that organization. Be PURE and HOLY. That means that you cannot be Democratic. CANNOT!

One day the wheat will be separated from the tares and the tares will be burned up with unquenchable fire. Sadly, millions of babies will be murdered in between time, and perverts will be teaching millions of children the gay lifestyle.

Is Chivalry Dead?

Folks,

I am glad Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV brings up the lastest scandal, that of the national organization of the Knights of Columbus forbidding local chapters to remove from membership those Knights who are pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage politicians. This scandal has been discussed by Tom Peters in his entry "The Knight Time for Faternal Correction" at the American Papist blogsite, and by Catawissa Gazetteer in his entry, "Knights Need to Draw Their Swords." The bottom line is this: as a tax exempt charity and an insurance organization, the national K of C doesn't want to lose its good standing with liberal Democrat politicians (those are the ones who are pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage). I say to the eternal inferno of fire and damnation with the tax exempt status and the insurance business. ANY Knight who is a liberal Democrat - politician or otherwise - ought to be thrown out on his freaking behind so hard that he bounces on the pavement. Any RINO ought to be thrown out, too.

When I got my Third Degree two years ago I travelled to the place of the Third Degree with a few other Knights also getting their Third Degree. We used my vehicle. One of the candidates in the car openly supported Obama and the Democrats (this was before the election) because the social programs of the Democrat Party were "Catholic." What utter idiocy! I felt like throwing this person out of the car. He was completely convinced of the "rightness" of his leftist position. There was NO hope of reasoning with him. So I have come to the conclusion that the only way to deal with these people is to either throw them out or have nothing to do with them. I have ZERO tolerance for the lunacy of the false gospel of social justice, the common good and peace at any price. The American system is based on individual freedom and individual responsibility, NOT on a nanny government that will give you anything you want, and then take everything you earn away. Abortionists, sodomy, filth, dirt and perversion - that's what Democrats have given us with Obama, and for the K of C NOT to throw them out on their fannies shows that the K of C is just like most other Catholic organizations - beholden to the hand of Caesar instead of obedient to the Law of God.

One last thing: I am SICK of making apologies or excuses for the Republicans. I am a CONSTITUTIONALIST. I urge support for the US Constitution Party and its platform, and where there is not a Constitution Party candidate, then vote Republican. NEVER EVER vote Democrat. I proudly despise and loathe the Democrat Party - the party of Satan.

Is Chivalry Dead?

'Artificial life' Breakthrough Announced by Scientists

Folks,

BBC News reports that "Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first living cell to be controlled entirely by synthetic DNA."

So man, having partaken of the fruit of the True of the Knowledge of Good and Evil now purports to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life. this is nothing other than utter hubris. For crimes less than what we commit today the Great Flood came to cleanse the Earth. And like those who lived up to the day of the Flood, we eat, drink, party, marry and divorce with nary a second thought about God's eternal wrath against the sin of pride.

USCCB Leaves LCCHR

Folks,

Bishop Murphy has announced that the USCCB leaves civil rights coalition after Kagan endorsement highlights differences. It is unfortunate that it took the endorsement of pro-abortion lesbian Kagan to SCOTUS by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights to prompt the USCCB to leave that group. That action should have been done long ago when that group began supporting "gay rights" and the "right to choose", but I suppose "better late than never."

By the way, let us get one thing clear: there is NO such thing as "civil rights." There is only "individual rights." Civil rights are merely a way of giving privileges to one select group of people that are denied to another group. But as individuals created in the image and likeness of God, we each have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness regardless of gender, skin color, age, etc. Commensurate with that is the individual responsibility to deal with the consequences of whatever decisions we make in our freedom. No one has any special inherent privileges by virtue of being a "minority," and no one should ever expect nanny government to bail him out of the bad consequences of his foolish decisions. One reaps what one sows. That's called FREEDOM.

The OTHER Deacon's Wife

Folks,

Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV continues his report today with one from "The OTHER Deacon's Wife." As far as I am concerned, liberal progressives have two choices: repent and convert to orthodoxy, or leave the Church for Bishopress Schori's collection of fruitcakes and nuts in the ECUSA.

The Deacon's Wife

Folks,

The latest video installment from Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV is quite telling regarding the depths of liturgical abuses to which some parishes have descended. Along with this video below, the reader is encouraged to read Redemptionis Sacramentum on matters to be observed or avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist (something that the pastor in charge of the parish in question either did not read or having read it, elected to defy it).

The web link to an additional video link on the Armor of God Episode 4 is also provided. It is slightly less then than 25 minutes in length. The deacon's wife who gave the homily referenced in Mr. Voris' video below obviously hasn't been educated in the facts explained in the Armor of God Episode 4 (in spite of the fact that these facts are obvious from Scripture).

The Deacon's Wife

Recent Opinion Articles on Religion

Folks,

I encourage the interested reader to kindly review the following editorial / opinion pieces:

Defending Religious Freedom in Full

Questions about God: Don't assume all religions offer similar answers

Religious freedom is a cornerstone of the American Republican experiment. And that cornerstone is laid square on the foundation of Christianity - NOT Islam, NOT Buddhism, NOT Hinduism, NOT Taoism, NOT Wicca, NOT Paganism, BUT Christianity. And it is only within a Christian Constitutional Republic that religious freedom can flourish. In ALL other systems of government, either atheist secularism dominates, squashing out religious expression and persecuting the believers, or a particular non-Christian religion dominated (e.g., islam), doing the same to all other religions. Why are Islamists, Buddhists, and Hindus afforded relgious freedom in our Republic? Because that is the CHRISTIAN thing to do. Any Christian living in an Islamic state can be expected to live in dhimmitude - subservience to Islam. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are two cases in point where it is illegal to even convert to Christianity. Any Christian living in a Hindu state can expect his house of worship - even his own home - to be burned to the ground. India is a case in point. Any Christian living in an atheist secular state can expect his Church to be run by the State, and his priests to be harrassed and persecuted for no other reason than belief in Jesus Christ. China, Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam are four cases in point.

Only a Christian Constitutional Republic is truly free. Turn the United States into a secular atheist state as Barack Hussein Obama is doing , and all religious freedom will become history as national socialist democracy becomes the State religion, and the State leaders become gods. Let us recall that a Republic some 2100 years ago embraced emperor worship and then began murdering Christians by the thousands, starting with a single Jew on a Cross who had the audacity to challenge the system - the Beast of politics and the Beast of false religiosity.

In Revelation chapter 13, did you ever wonder what the Beast from the Sea represented in verses 1 through 10, and what the Beast from the Earth represented in verses 11 through 18? The Beast from the Sea with seven heads and ten horns was given authority over every tribe, people, tongue, and nation. The Beast from the Land made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, forcing everyone to be stamped with the mark of the first Beast.

It's readily apparent what these Beasts represent. The first one is secular political authority which for St. John was Rome. The second one is false religious authority which for St. John was the Jewish religious authorities - the Pharisees and Sadducees who had rejected the Messiah. They were the ones who impelled the crowd in the courtyard of Pontius Pilate to cry in John 19:15, "Non habemus regem nisi Caesarem." The cry of today's secular atheists (the first Beast) and false Catholics (the second Beast) is exactly the same: "We have no king but Caesar." Only the language has changed.

When God is not our King, then by default Caesar is. "Non habemus regem nisi Caesarem." Thus do we lose our freedom, starting first with freedom of religion. It's 1st Samuel chapter 8 all over again.

Shades of 38

Folks,

Michael Voris of Real Catholic TV has a video commentary (below) on the apparent support that Cardinal Schonborn of Austria has voiced for revisiting gay relationships, remarrying divorcees and priestly celibacy. What Mr. Voris states is disputed by Thomas Peters of the American Papist Blog at Catholic Vote Action in his blog entry, Turning the Tables on the Tablet, and Setting the Story Straight on Schonborn.

This is the second time in as many days when statements in a video from Michael Voris have been disputed. Yesterday, my friend Catawissa Gazetteer commented in response to my post Amazing Grace that Mr. Voris overstated the case of the Protestant hymn Amazing Grace being sung in Catholic churches. Catawissa was correct then. And now, after reading what Thomas Peters writes at his blogsite, I am beginning to wonder as to the depth of research that Mr. Voris may go to for some of his video reports. But let the reader judge for himself.
Shades of 38

Copy machines, a security risk?

Folks,

The CBS video at the following web link should give the reader some pause for thought before using a copying machine for indiscriminate reproduction of personal documents containing confidential and private information:

Copy machines, a security risk?

The fear one may have is not so much that a criminal will use private, confidential, personal information to his own advantage, but that the government will use so it. But then again, is there any substantive difference between the government of Barack HUSSEIN Obama and a criminal orgnaization? Indeed, a government without limits to its authroity IS a criminal organization, for power corrupts and absolutely power corrupts absolutely.

Miss Oklahoma USA Supports Arizona Law

Folks,

For a second time, a Miss America contestant surprises me - pleasantly so (the first being Carrie Prejean's denunciation of "homosexual marriage"). Please watch the video at the conclusions of my remarks.

I am NOT racially prejudiced by any stretch of the imagination, but I have observed this: liberals can't stand beautiful white women who hold conservative moral values. The continuing liberal attacks against Sarah Palin is a case in point. Carrie Prejean has also been and Elizabeth Woolard will now be subject the same kind of RACIAL attacks. Yes, RACIAL - a hatred for anything representing European culture that has its origins and foundations in Christians beliefs. To be a Muslim Arab, or a Communist Chinese, or a pagan African is acceptable, even laudable. But to have white skin, believe in Christian principles and support the US Constitution as it is written is anathema. Yes, there are many, many good and honorable African, Arab and Chinese people in the US who are Christians and support the Constitution. Perhaps that is true of a majority - I haven't done a statistical analysis, so I don't know. But that isn't the point. What is the point is that to escape condemnation in today's politically correct society, one must be a liberal who decries all those Christian values which our European (NOT Chinese, NOT African, NOT Arab) forefathers brought with them to these shores some two to three centuries ago. And THAT is racially prejudiced.

Think about it: when a black says black power or black pride or the Negro college fund, we simply accept the politically correctness of the stament with nary a second thought. But if someone talks about white power or white pride or a white college fund, then that person is branded as a Nazi, and sadly there are a lot of neo-Nazi white skin heads in the US who are as dangerous as the current black president who murders unborn babies - even those of his own race. The point is that one who is of European descent is NOT allowed to have ANY pride in his culture or heritage. But to be a descendant of cannibals in Africa or South America, or testoterone-crazed Jihaddists in the Middle East, is extolled and lauded! And no, NOT all nor perhaps even a majority of people with non-white skin are such descendants. But that extreme example is used to show how illogical and backward liberal mentality is.

Well, let us hear what Ms. Woolard says about Arizona's new immigration law. Legal immigration is GOOD, whether the immigrants are Chinese, Arab, African or Mexican. (Let them learn and accept the founding principles of a Christian Constitutional Republic which European descendants devised and built - after all, that's why they are here, because it's better than where they came from!) Illegal immigration is BAD. Racism is BAD, whether directed against blacks or Arabs or Chinese or Hispanics or whites. And it's that simple.

Oh, one last thing: Christianity was founded by a Jew. And these liberals hate that Jew just as much as they hate the religion that that Jew founded. How is that NOT racial prejudice in the same vein as Nazism?

Miss Oklahoma USA Supports Arizona Law

Amazing Grace

Folks,

Michael Voris latest installment from Real Catholic TV is provided below:

Amazing Grace

What Exactly Is 'Social Justice'?

Folks,

I received the following essay from the Respect Life Ccordinator at my parish. I am sick and tired of how the liberal left in America and Western Europe has hijacked this once very Catholic term - social justice - from Centissimus Annus, Rerum Novarum, and similar Papal documents, and turned it upside down and inside out to mean the horrid and horrible of things.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/what_exactly_is_social_justice.html

What Exactly Is 'Social Justice'?
May 16, 2010
By Jayme Sellards

The term "social justice" is now commonly used by leftist activists, clergy, educators, judges, and politicians to describe the goal they seek to achieve with many of their policies. No precise definition of "social justice" is ever offered by the left. Instead, the term is always used in a vague way -- as if everyone already knows, or should know, what the seemingly well-intentioned phrase "social justice" means.

So, what exactly is "social justice"?

Social justice is the complete economic equality of all members of society. While this may sound like a lofty objective, what it really means is that wealth should be collected by the government and evenly distributed to everyone. In short, social justice is communism. It is rooted in the Marxist idea that the money people make and the property they own do not rightfully belong to the people who make the money and own the property.

Karl Marx's ultimate criticism of capitalism is its recognition of private property. The reason private property is so evil, Marx contended, is that it is a function of economic class warfare. In other words, "the rich" use the concept of private property to oppress "the poor." In order to understand this convoluted thought process, Marx's view of money must be examined, since money is the means by which private property is acquired.

According to Marx, money is really a "collective product" that belongs to everyone. His reasoning, as described in The Communist Manifesto, is that money can be made only "by the united action of all members of society." Factory owners, for example, cannot manufacture goods by themselves. Rather, the factory owners need workers to run the machines that produce goods. Consequently, in Marx's mind, when the manufactured good is sold, the worker has as much right to the proceeds of that sale as the factory owner does.

Marx transposed that idea to the societal level, professing that the aggregate wealth of the rich was actually created by the aggregate work of the poor.

As a result, capitalism is seen by Marxists as a system invented by the rich to ensure that the poor do not get their fair share of money. Instead, the rich keep most of the money for themselves. In turn, the rich use this "stolen" money to selfishly purchase private property in the form of factories, land, houses, and anything else they choose. As such, Marxists see all privately owned property as the fruit of a massive capitalist fraud against the poor.

What about wages? Aren't workers compensated for the work that they do under a capitalist system? Not according to Marx, who saw wages merely as part of the capitalist scheme.

First of all, Marx believed that capitalists pay workers only the bare minimum to survive -- an amount that "merely suffices to prolong and reproduce a bare existence."

Secondly, Marx stated that every cent a worker makes is paid back to the rich in the form of rent, groceries, car payments, and the like. As Marx said, "no sooner is the exploitation of the laborer by the manufacturer ... at an end ... than he is set upon by the other portions of the bourgeoisie, the landlord, the shopkeeper, the pawnbroker, etc."

Consequently, Marx held that workers, by design, can never make enough money to acquire private property of their own under the capitalist system.

"Social justice" is intended to remedy this exploitation of workers by capitalists. Marx saw man only in a social context -- meaning not as an individual, but as a part of a class. Thus, the word "social" (in "social justice") refers to classes in a society.

"Justice," in the Marxist context, means economic equality. This is the Marxist utopian ideal that all members in a society should receive the same amount of compensation, regardless of occupation, skill, or work ethic. The oft-quoted socialist mantra, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need," comes from this concept.

Social justice can be accomplished in only one way in a capitalist society -- by wealth redistribution. This is done by seizing the wealth of the 'greedy' rich and giving it to the poor, using the government as the agent of redistribution. This is the true aim of the left's social justice agenda.

Marx's dim view of capitalism must be put in context, taking into consideration the time and place in which he lived. In 1848, the year of The Communist Manifesto's publication, the Industrial Revolution was at its height in Europe . In many European towns, the skies were filled with black smoke spewing from massive factories that employed scores of workers in horrible conditions.

However, just as Marx's understanding of capitalism was limited to factories existing in 1840s Europe , his criticisms of capitalism must be likewise limited. Marx's philosophy is demonstrably false in the modern-day United States .

To begin with, Marx contemplated only two classes. One was a very small and privileged class of property and business owners; the remainder of the population was grouped into a massive class of impoverished workers. Therefore, Marxism cannot account for the millions of American middle-class property owners, nor can it explain the existence of small businesses, which are the backbone of the American economy.

People who enjoy their job or make more than a subsistence wage are also inexplicable under Marxism, as are "rags to riches" stories and anyone advancing in salary or position. Those people simply don't exist in the Marxist world.

The truth is that the only "class" in the United States excluded from reaping the benefits of capitalism is the class that chooses not to participate in American society. Fueled by the rhetoric of leftists, this class sits idle, dreaming of perceived wrongs that justify its inactivity. The only exploitation in America is committed by politicians, who use stolen money to subsidize this class in exchange for votes. That is not justice -- it is criminal.

Our legislators and President are meant to be the guardians of our freedom, not the engineers of our lives… or merchants who trade entitlements for power.