Contra|Diction!

The Challenge of Islam: A Christian Perspective

2009-04-15T21:23:00.008-02:30

Two days ago, Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, wrote an opinion piece entitled The Challenge of Islam - A Christian Perspective.

I greatly respect Dr. Mohler and he always seems ready to confront the current issues of the day, regardless of whether they touch on politics or theology.

In this case, he introduces his thoughts with this statement:

President Barack Obama has put the issue of Islam front and center on the international stage. His visit to Turkey, and his very public statements to the Muslim world, have raised a host of questions at home and abroad.

Dr. Mohler goes on to explain in detail what these "host of questions" might be and I invite you to read his article and benefit from all his insights. If you'd like a quick summary, I think his concerns are best expressed in the following paragraphs:

I criticize President Obama, not for stating that America is not at war with Islam, but for failing to be honest in clarifying that we do face a great civilizational challenge in Islam. Islam is, in effect, the single most vital competitor to Western ideals of civilization on the world scene. The logic of Islam is to bring every square inch of this planet under submission to the rule of the Qur'an. Classical Islam divides the world into the "World of Islam" and the "World of War." In this latter world the struggle to bring the society under submission to the Qur'an is still ongoing.

And then finally his conclusion:

I can agree with President Obama that Islam has produced cultural wonders, but I have to see it more fundamentally as a belief system that is taking millions upon millions of persons spiritually captive - leaving them under the curse of sin and without hope of salvation.

For Christians, regardless of nationality, this is the great challenge that should be our urgent concern. Our concern is not mainly political, but theological and spiritual. And, all things considered, Islam almost surely represents the greatest challenge to Christian evangelism of our times.

Dr. Mohler's comments can certainly be termed counter cultural but they urgently need to be stated in our day. Jimmy Akin wrote a piece entitled The Catechism on Islam in This Rock in 2002 trying to clarify Catholic teaching on Islam, particularly in light of Vatican II documents. It's a good summary considering his focus on Vatican II.

A more classical expose on Islam can be found in an article written by Michael Forrest on scripturecatholic.com. In ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY: TWO RELIGIONS OF PEACE? the author issues a series of warnings about Islam, including the following:

Considering the violent beginnings and spread of Islam, one may hard pressed to discount the current violence as an "aberration" or perversion of Islam. A reasonable argument may be made of just the opposite, it would seem that those Muslims who support religious freedom and tolerance today are at odds with their own prophet, holy book and history. We all ought to pray that Muslims one day reject the violent essence and genesis of their faith and make it truly peaceful. Even more, we ought to pray for the intercession of Our Lady of Fatima, that they come to accept Christ, Who is true peace.

Forrest also tries to set the record straight on Islam's view of women and contrasts it with that of Christianity.

It is particularly disconcerting when the so-called “politically correct” among us, especially the feminists, praise Islam. If they find Christian society unfair to them, they ought to look a bit more closely at Islam:

Islam: "Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient...As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them, forsake them in beds apart and beat them." (Women, 34)

Christianity: "As the Church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her; so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies." (Ephesians 5:25-29).

As opposed to Islam, we must also remember that Catholicism celebrates a woman as the highest created creature, the Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, the Blessed Virgin Mary. I suggest reading Islam Revealed by Dr. Anis Shorrosh, The Life and Times of Muhammad by Sir John Glubb and Answering Islam by Geisler and Saleeb if you want to learn more.

This is obviously a very relevant point in relation to some of today's news headlines:

Women protesters against 'marital rape' law spat on and stoned in ...

Times Online "Women protesting in Kabul against a controversial new law were pelted with stones, jostled and spat on today as they held what is believed to be the first public demonstration calling for equal rights for women in recent Afghan history."

Afghan 'anti-rape' women attacked BBC News

Stone-throwing Afghan crowd swarms women's protest The Associated Press

In an editorial I wrote last year for our local newspaper, I stated:

We as a nation once declared and confessed Christianity to be religion's supreme path, a sure road to heaven through Christ, "…the way, the truth and the life." This same Christ warned, "No man comes to the Father except through me."

We once believed that foreign lands (including those of Islam) could sustain a peaceful, civilized culture and free and democratic process only by embracing a Saviour and Christian truth delivered through zealous missionary activity. Now, spiritually exhausted and corrupted, we and our Christian allies rarely mention missionaries yet expect the same outcome from military troops fighting a "war against terror" on Islamic soil. Far better to die for Christ and the Gospel in Kandahar or Baghdad than to die in a war designed to change no one's heart.

As Dr. Mohler said,

all things considered, Islam almost surely represents the greatest challenge to Christian evangelism of our times.

C-FAM Needs Our Help

2009-04-14T11:22:00.007-02:30

Just received the appeal below from Austin Ruse at C-Fam. I'm going to send them something, whatever I can afford. Please read the email and see what you can do to help.
________________________________

From: Austin Ruse

Date: Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 3:41 AM
Subject: Friday Fax needs your help; Obama Unleashes Abortion Attack at UN

BARACK OBAMA IS THE MOST PRO-ABORTION PRESIDENT IN US HISTORY…

…ALREADY HE IS HAVING A MAJOR IMPACT AT THE UN…

…PLEASE HELP THE FRIDAY FAX TO FIGHT BACK…

April 14, 2009

Dear Friday Fax Reader:

Barack Hussein Obama is the most pro-abortion president in US history. In only a few months he has:

Restored US funding for the UN Population Fund, the UN’s population control agency that helped set up and run the Chinese forced abortion program.
Overturned the US ban on funding International Planned Parenthood Federation and the Center for Reproductive Rights, aggressive pro-abortion and anti-family groups that are deeply involved in forcing abortion on unwilling people all over the world, especially in Latin America.
Obama’s negotiators at the UN have already made aggressive pro-abortion and anti-family statements at the UN including signing a French declaration that seeks to make homosexuals a specially protected class at the expense of religious freedom.

Obama’s administration is gearing up to make a frightening new global attack on the unborn child.

The Friday Fax staff was there just two weeks ago when the Obama administration made its UN debut by supporting language that has been used by UN agencies, UN committees, radical lawyer and judges to impose abortion on reluctant countries.

Friday Fax staff watched in horror as the previous pro-life positions of the US were overturned in an instant by radical feminists representing the new Obama administration.

The US will now join the UN bureaucracy, Canada and the European Union as the most aggressive promoters of abortion all over the world.

This new pro-abortion coalition will actively seek to impose abortion on all the countries of Latin America, Africa, the Far East and even on the few remaining pro-life countries in Europe.

What stands in their way?

A tiny few countries willing to risk everything to defend the unborn child.

Along with them stands a handful of groups and individuals from around the world who go to huge expense to attend UN meetings.

STANDING AT THE CENTER OF PRO-LIFE RESISTANCE AT THE UN IS THE FRIDAY FAX AND C-FAM!

The Friday Fax is the only weekly source of pro-life and pro-family news coming out of UN headquarters in New York City.

The Friday Fax now has a global subscriber list of 200,000 and a global readership of half a million.

The Friday Fax has created a global village of pro-life and pro-family activists who can be called upon at any time to put pressure on the UN or on governments who want to impose abortion on unwilling people.

FRIDAY FAX SUCCESSES

Just last fall, the Friday Fax gathered the names of 500,000 individuals from around the world to endorse our UN Petition for the Unborn Child and the Family. These 500,000 names were presented to select governments and to a UN press conference that was broadcast all over the UN building.
When the Holy See was under attack by radical pro-abortion groups the Friday Fax gather the endorsement of more than 4,000 groups from all over the world who were willing to stand with the Holy See. These included the largest Protestant and Muslim groups in the world.
The Friday Fax regularly breaks news stories at the UN and our work is picked up by friendly and even unfriendly media from all over the world.

I could go on and on and in the coming weeks of this fundraising campaign I will tell you stories about our readers:

…about the UN staff member in Afghanistan who reads the Friday Fax in his hut and sends us donations…

…about the UN staff member who reaches out to us because she feels under attack in the building for her beliefs…

…about the fact that the Friday Fax is read all over the UN system by our enemies who want to know what we are saying…

In the mean time I need your help. The Friday Fax is not free! Sure, you get it for free but it is very expensive to produce, especially now that we have gone to two stories per week.

The Friday Fax now costs $177,000 per year to produce. This includes salaries, rent, expenses, printing of the hardcopy edition, and exploding email expenses.

I need to raise $70,000 over the next six weeks to help partially defray some of these expenses.

Can you help? Can you help us fight back against UN radicals and their efforts to impose abortion on unwilling peoples all over the world?

I know these are tough economic times but it is precisely in times like these that our enemies make the most progress. While most folks are focusing on the economy, they use our inattention to advance abortion.

More than anything I seek your prayers. This is a battle of powers and principalities. But I also need your financial support.

Can you afford to make a sacrificial gift of $1000 to help the Friday Fax? How about $500? I understand these are big numbers so perhaps you can help out with $100 or even $50!

There are many ways to give to the Friday Fax. You can mail us check, donate by credit card using our totally secure server connected right to a bank or by wire transfer.

YOU MAY GIVE FROM ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD!

Click HERE to donate or to get instructions on how to donate!

Do not hesitate. The enemy grows stronger every day. They are not waiting. They intend to do everything they can to impose abortion on the world and with Barack Obama in the White House, they have a very powerful new ally.

Please act now. Click HERE and give as much as you can.

Yours sincerely,

Austin Ruse
President

PS In next week’s appeal I will tell you how the UN Population Fund intends to block pro-lifers from attending an important and dangerous new UN conference.

PSS Please help us fight back. Go HERE and give as much as you can.

The Porpoise Driven Life and Pastor Rick Warren

2009-04-13T21:13:00.002-02:30

According to an editorial by John Henry Westen in LifeSiteNews, Pastor Warren, Like Peter, Denies Christ (at least His teachings) During Holy Week.

I therefore dedicate this video moment to Pastor Warren.

Breakfast With Cherie

2009-04-13T19:02:00.005-02:30

Image: Cherie Blair enjoyed an impromptu audience with Benedict XVI in 2006 [image source]

The Times of Malta last week published a television interview with Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, in which she once again flouted Church teaching on condoms and contraception.

Here’s a clip of the highlight of the interview. Go here for the full video.

Ms. Blair’s is a high profile history of dissent and collaboration with the culture of death. Yet many in the Catholic hierarchy, as far away as Rome, are quite comfy with her presence and offer her platforms with which to bewitch and poison the minds of listeners. Nevertheless, Cherie Blair is not the enemy.

What then can account for such scandal? In a word, modernism.

It’s the elephant in the closet. And it’s an elephant which, despite its enormous size, goes virtually unnoticed or ignored. A host of other secondary evils are blamed for the current sickness in the Body.

What is the solution for this pervasive evil which a hundred times daily pierces the heart of the serious minded, faithful Catholic? In my opinion, the only solution is a return to orthodoxy and tradition by means of a New Offensive.

Pope Benedict XVI is leading us in the New Offensive, I believe. And the spearhead of the New Offensive is the restoration of the ancient liturgy, the “Mass of the Ages,” to its rightful place in the life and practice of Mother Church.

Lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.

Cherie, do you know Latin?

____________________

UPDATE: Damian Thompson of Holy Smoke blog reports that Tony Blair, husband of Cherie Blair, has also been busy despoiling Catholic teaching:

Tony Blair has given an interview to the gay magazine Attitude in which he calls for Pope Benedict to rethink the Church's "entrenched" attitude on homosexuality. Well, the Pope would rather like Mr Blair to rethink his entrenched support for abortion, but he hasn't done so, has he?

More here in The Independent and on Christian Post.

Tony and Cherie Blair are two Catholics who are representative in their thinking of multiple millions of today's Catholics.

Your glorying is not good. Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole lump ? I Cor. 5:6

[cross posted to St. John's Latin Mass Community blog]

Newt Gingrich on the Shame of Notre Dame

2009-04-13T18:57:00.002-02:30

No doubt some readers will know that Newt Gingrich recently converted to the Catholic faith, the faith of his wife Callista. He does a very nice job in this interview on Fox News with Greta. It's certainly refreshing to hear such talk from a Catholic politician...who are otherwise notoriously famous for spewing poison and rebellion.

Incidentally, for another video of Newt and wife Callista, being interviewed once again (February past) by Greta Van Susteren, go here.

Father Z reported that in an interview this past Sunday with Chris Wallace, Newt discussed briefly the question of his standing on Holy Communion, in light of his former marriages.

Also, Wallace asked Gingrich if, since he had been married and divorced, he can receive Holy Communion. Gingrich responded that over the last 10 years they had done everything according to Church law that was necessary to be done and that, yes, he could receive Communion.

A warm welcome, Mr. Gingrich, to the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church!

Youth Survey: Teens Lose Faith in Droves

2009-04-12T21:54:00.007-02:30

In an article entitled Youth Survey: Teens lose faith in droves, Macleans magazine reports on a survey by Reginald Bibby, University of Lethbridge sociologist.

According to new data from Project Teen Canada, more teens now identify as Muslim than Anglican, United Church of Canada and Baptist combined. As a group, the percentage who adhere to so-called “other faiths”—including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Sikhism—has grown fivefold since Project Teen began its surveys in 1984, while the percentage of teens who identify as Roman Catholic has declined by one third, and the percentage who identify as Protestant is down by almost two-thirds.

There is some very sobering data in this report, most of which points to the fact that many teens—from nominally Christian homes—are “rejecting religion entirely.”

For Canada’s Christian teens, meanwhile, the community is shrinking like never before. Since 1984, the percentage of teens who call themselves Christian has almost been cut in half while the number who call themselves atheist has grown to 16 per cent, up from just six per cent in the mid-1980s. Just as the boomers shifted toward agnosticism, teens are now going a step further and rejecting religion entirely. “Belief is learned, pretty much like the multiplication table,” Bibby writes. “So is non-belief.”

Bibby is concerned that since religion is a “source of stability” and “moral compass of sorts” this trend could begin to adversely affect our society’s ethics and behaviour.

I’ll come out and say this very clearly: In my opinion, all that’s keeping our civilization safe and manageable—as opposed to disintegrating into chaos and barbarism—is the Christian religion. But we’re fast approaching the tipping point and since the heartbeat of the Christian religion is the Catholic faith, unless there is a sweeping move of repentance and revival within the Catholic Church we’ll likely all be plunged into a worldwide cataclysm of the magnitude warned of by Our Lady of Fatima. How right it appears she was!

Again, in my opinion, the spearhead of any such revival is the Mass of the Ages, accompanied by a strict and faithful adherence to the Tradition of Mother Church and to the message of the Virgin of Fatima.

[cross posted to St. John's Latin Mass Community blog]

Christ Is Risen! Alleluia

2009-04-12T16:09:00.001-02:30

BELLINI, Giovanni: Resurrection of Christ 1475-79
[image source]

US Pro Abortion Catholic Politicians Expect to Receive Communion at Papal Mass

2008-04-15T20:04:00.009-02:30

UPDATE: see end of post

Michael Hichborn, American Life League’s (ALL) media director, reports that pro-abortion Catholics are expected to try to receive Communion when the Holy Father holds Mass on Thursday.

ALL is the largest anti-abortion advocacy organization in the U.S. and has run a full page message to Pope Benedict XVI in the Washington Times. The message can be viewed here in pdf format.

The Politico wrote a good story today about the possible renewal of the abortion debate during the Pope’s visit and made reference to the ads placed by ALL.

The conflict could come to a head Thursday, when the pope is scheduled to celebrate a Mass at the Washington Nationals’ new ballpark. The Vatican has invited all Catholic lawmakers, and many abortion-rights-supporting Catholics — including Kerry and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — are expected to attend.

In ads placed in The Washington Times and Politico this week, the anti-abortion-rights American Life League is urging the pontiff to “protect the body of Christ from the bloodstained hands of pro-abortion ‘Catholics’” by denying Communion to politicians who support abortion rights.

Unfortunately, it was a troubling sign when

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said she knows of no plan to deny Communion to particular lawmakers Thursday.

“You presume that everyone there knows the rules of the church and follows them,” she said. “No one is policing that. People go to church and people go to Communion if they feel in their heart they are prepared to receive Communion.”

Since when was “feeling in their heart” a rationale in Catholic teaching for the commission of objectively evil and sinful actions?

I venture to say the Pope must be in a state of constant prayer during this trip, being heavily weighed down in heart with the import of his message to America. My hope is that God will make a way possible for Benedict XVI during his visit to achieve a strong unequivocal expression of the Church’s teaching on the sanctity of human life and the urgent need to take precise measures in its defense.

UPDATE: Pope "deeply ashamed" of priestly abuse
During an exchange with reporters who accompanied him on today's flight from Rome to Washington, Pope Benedict XVI said that he was "deeply ashamed" of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests.

Cardinal Schoenborn Unwittingly Allows Blasphemous Museum Display

2008-04-14T16:26:00.005-02:30

It’s no surprise that a Catholic Bishop is entrusted with the protection and defense of the Catholic faith in his diocese. Now imagine an Austrian Bishop who also happens to have a Roman Catholic museum in his Diocese. Furthermore, let’s say this same Bishop is aware of an upcoming exhibit of artwork by someone he has paid homage to as "one of

Austria

's most important living artists."

Of this artist, the Bishop believes "Like nearly no other artist, he is concerned about suffering and mistreated people ... and he expresses this in his work in a shocking way." The Bishop knows that the artist is a communist and an atheist, but believes “he nevertheless has a burning interest in the Bible."

These things being the case, you would think such a Bishop might take precautions before the art exhibit opens to ensure it meets up to acceptable Catholic standards, right? Just in case, right? Because, you know, there have been issues of this sort in times past, right?

But no. Apparently the Bishop dropped the ball. Precautions were not taken.

And complaints started to come in.

Some people are now asking, “Is it art - or is it blasphemy?” But it’s a no-brainer, really.

Austrians are locked in a nationwide debate touched off by the brief display in a prestigious Roman Catholic museum of an etching that depicts Jesus Christ and his disciples having an orgy during the biblical Last Supper.

A chastened and chagrined Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the top churchman in this largely conservative and overwhelmingly Catholic country, has ordered the offending artwork removed.

...snip

The dispute began on March 12 with the opening of "Religion, Flesh and Power," a collection of about 50 paintings, drawings and sculptures - some with homo-erotic themes - by Austrian artist Alfred Hrdlicka.

...snip

"The exhibition does not mean that the cathedral museum identifies with all of Hrdlicka's works," Schoenborn said.

"Of course, I would not have agreed to the presentation of works which are blasphemous or pornographic. I therefore expressly regret that a picture of this kind - without my knowledge - was included in the exhibition. This picture, which is injurious to the faithful, was removed on my orders on March 20."

But prior to this, there were reports that the Cardinal had defended the exhibit.

It’s hard to say exactly what happened here but doesn’t the Cardinal have someone he pays to look after this sort of thing? Kaufmann, the curator, said he was caught off-guard by the intensity of the debate and Bernhard Boehler, director of the cathedral museum, said he was “surprised at the heat of the battle" over the orgy drawing.

Regardless, the whole mess falls in the Cardinal’s lap, where it truly belongs.

For example, exactly why does the Cardinal employ a director at the museum who seems completely insensitive and unaware of what’s at stake in such controversies? And make no mistake about it—what’s at stake is scandal and the salvation of souls.

Catholic Bishops as a whole need to be much more concerned about preserving the faithful from confusion and scandal. To me, scandals such as this, along with perhaps the greatest scandal of all—the ongoing desecration of the Holy Eucharist by dissenting Catholics—is one of the greatest causes today leading to a misrepresentation and misunderstanding of the faith by non-Catholics and Catholics alike.

In turn, the resulting obfuscation of the faith and the demoralization of the faithful leads to unbelief, heresy, atheism, and secularization.

Scandal has always been held to be a serious matter in Catholic teaching. It has the potential of deadening the conscience and sending people to Hell. And considering what Jesus Himself said about bringing offense to His little ones, Bishops more than anyone else should be keeping their eyes wide open and their ears close to the ground.

Although I’ve never been able to track down the actual reference, it is widely reported that St. John Chrysostom maintained, "The floor of hell is paved with the skulls of bishops!"

God help them to do better!

[Note: LifeSiteNews also carried this story in two separate reports here and here.]

Abuses in Catholic Liturgy Attributed to Lack of Serious Spirituality

2008-04-13T23:42:00.003-02:30

So says the Bishop of a Brazilian community that celebrates the Mass according to the 1962 missal, reports Zenit News. Bishop Fernando Rifan spoke with ZENIT about the richness of the extraordinary form of the Mass. The use of that form was extended with Benedict XVI's "Summorum Pontificum," released last July.

Behind this is the lack of a serious spirituality, [the idea that] to attract the people, novelties should be invented. Holy Mass is attractive in itself, because of its sacredness and mystery. Deep down, we're dealing with the diminishment of faith in the Eucharistic mysteries and an attempt to replace it with novelties and creativity. When the celebrant wants to become the protagonist of the liturgical action, abuses begin. It is forgotten that the center of the Mass is Jesus Christ.

A few thoughts from Quebec’s Cardinal Gagnon, who recently passed away, were also shared.

Cardinal Edouard Gagnon was of the same opinion. "It cannot be ignored that the [liturgical] reform has given rise to many abuses and have led in a certain degree to the disappearance of respect for the sacred. This fact should be unfortunately admitted and it excuses a good number of those people who have distanced themselves from our Church and their former parish communities [in] "Fundamentalism and Conservatism," interview with Cardinal Gagnon, "Zitung -- Römisches," November-December 1993, page 35.

If you are a novice in regard to the controversies in the Catholic Church surrounding the Mass, here’s a few resources.

Primer on the Mass …a sweeping but brief look at the Mass.

The Eucharist: Source and Summit of Christian Spirituality Pt 1 and Pt 2 …a more detailed and excellent examination of the Mass (Holy Eucharist) by Catholic convert Mark Brumley

Differences Between the Traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo …simple explanation of the differences in the two forms of Mass, with many other helpful links.

Vatican Makes Available Roman Missal for US Visit of Pope Benedict XVI

2008-04-13T22:13:00.003-02:30

Only three more days before Pope Benedict XVI touches down in Washington for his stupendous five day US visit!

The Vatican has released a Missal providing texts, prayers, and hymns for all the liturgical ceremonies at which Pope Benedict XVI will preside during his visit to the US.

It includes the Scripture readings, texts, and prayers for Mass and the other prayer services the Pope will lead. An appendix provides the texts of some common Catholic prayers, in English and Spanish.

Read more here and get the link to download the Missal.

Documentary “Expelled” Exposing Atheism and Causing Liberal Mass Meltdown

2008-04-12T21:44:00.002-02:30

Earlier this week pro-life blogger extraordinaire Jill Stanek interviewed Expelled producer Mark Mathis for her WorldNetDaily column.

"Expelled" calls attention to the plight of highly credentialed scholars who have been forced out of prestigious academic positions because they proposed Intelligent Design as a possible alternative to Charles Darwin's 150-year-old theories about the origins of life.

Instead of entertaining a debate on the merits of competing theories, the scientific establishment has moved to suppress the ID movement in a "systematic and ruthless" way at odds with America's founding principles, the film asserts.

Predictably, “liberals” have been flipping out over this film. It plainly connects atheism and Darwinism “with no missing link.” I don’t know how successful the documentary will turn out to be but so far it has certainly revealed true colours and ruffled many feathers.

Read all the details in Jill’s WorldNetDaily column as well as her most recent blog posting.

Another High-Profile Evangelical Becomes Catholic

2008-04-12T21:25:00.002-02:30

From Mommy Life blog

Just heard that Paul McCusker, the creator/writer of Focus on the Family's Odyssey series has become Catholic.

Take a look around Barbara's blog. She's well worth adding to your blogroll.

Archbishop Raymond Burke Issues Extra-Judicial Decree Against Canon Lawyer

2008-04-12T21:13:00.003-02:30

Archbishop Raymond L. Burke has pronounced Father Thomas P. Doyle, O.P., a priest and canon lawyer, guilty of having committed canonical delicts (crimes) and has issued an extra-judicial decree obliging him to repay fees and prohibiting him from representing anyone in Church legal proceedings in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

In fulfillment of my solemn duty to exercise vigilance over any human matter, so that abuses do not creep into ecclesiastical discipline, and in so far as this is required for the safeguarding of fundamental human rights or the salvation of souls…the present Decree is issued…

The Archbishop continues to do the difficult and gritty work of a true Bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

Why does he bother to go to such lengths?

My guess?

because he knows and believes the power of sin and its awful consequences.
because he truly cares for the souls of everyone under his diocesan charge.
because he wishes to be obedient to the Church and to Jesus Christ, the Chief Shepherd.
because he is more fearful of failing God than man.

All distinguishing trademarks of a true Shepherd and an authentic Catholic Bishop.

Unholy Sacrament of a Corrupt Christian Society

2008-04-12T16:10:00.008-02:30

Strangely aware of the sexual modernism which has invaded the church and fulminating against the sinister threats to modern society, Christian spokespersons of our day claim the high moral ground. They exhort us constantly to resist today’s “Evil Empire” which is commanded largely by homosexuals, Islam, atheists and secularists.

Deeply alarmed at the relentless assault upon biblical “values” and decrying heresies such as “revisionist ‘pro-gay’ scriptural arguments” they call Christians to stand fast in the unalterable two thousand year old “Faith of our Fathers.”

They are not remiss in discussing moral relativism and reminding one another of the uncompromising position of Martin Luther:

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ.

Yet they seem entirely oblivious to their near universal departure from that body of truth on the point of contraception—which is, “precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking.”

Like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, they have eyes to see but they see not. Jesus warned them that, although they claimed Moses and the prophets as their father, they had in fact rejected the fathers of their Jewish faith. In similar manner, the vast majority of today’s Christian leaders are quick to quote the Bible and Martin Luther yet unwilling to give even passing thought, let alone discussion, to the possibility of their own disobedience and blindness.

I’ve said much about this matter on other occasions.

The article below offers more of the same. And as I’ve said before, this subject does not have to be viewed as a showdown between Catholics and Protestants. The question is simply: In regard to human sexuality, what has two thousand years of constant Christian teaching declared?
________________________

Why is the Catholic Church opposed to birth control? Where in the Bible is birth control condemned as being contrary to the Will of God?

The Catholic Church is not opposed to birth control when it is accomplished by natural means, by self control. She is opposed only to birth control by artificial means, by the employment of pills, condoms, IUD's, foams, jellies, sterilization, non-completion of the act of sexual union--or any other means used to prevent conception from resulting from this act--because such means profane the marital embrace and dishonor the marriage contract.

God slew Onan for practicing contraception (Gen. 38:9-10); the word "onanism" derives from Onan's deed. In fact, up until the Church of England's Lambeth Conference of 1930, which accepted contraception and thus broke with the Christian tradition, contraception had been considered by all Christian churches, both Catholic and Protestant, to be gravely sinful. The Catholic Church does not feel free to change the law of God, as do Protestants.

In the New Testament, there is only one instance where sin is punished by God with immediate death, this was the fate of Ananias and Sapphira, a husband and wife who went through the motions of giving a gift to God but fraudulently kept back part of it. The Bible says they lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11). In contraception, two people go through the motions of an act of self-giving, but obstruct the natural fruition of their act, i.e., the conception of children, which is the ultimate purpose for which God created sexuality.

Sexual union is a gift from God to the married, but by practicing contraception, married couples are accepting the pleasure God built into the act and yet denying Him its purpose, new people. They are in effect mocking God. But "Be not deceived, God is not mocked." (Gal. 6:7). Christ cursed the fig tree which, despite a fine external appearance, bore no fruit. (Matt. 21:19; Mark 11:14). Marriage is God's plan for populating Heaven, yet contracepting couples refuse Him the specific fruit of their marriage, which is children, when they engage in the act which should produce children yet frustrate the natural, God-intended result.

Further, the sin of "sorceries'' or "witchcrafts'' ("pharmakeia'' in the Greek--Gal. 5:20; Apoc. 9:21; 21:8)--which the Bible condemns along with fornication, murder, idolatry, and other serious sins--very possibly includes secret potions mixed to prevent pregnancy or cause abortion. Such potions were known and used even in the first century.

Common sense and conscience both dictate that artificial birth control is not only a violation of the Natural Law but is a perfidious insult to the dignity of man himself. For it implies free reign to physical impulses; it implies total disregard for the fate of the human seed; it implies utter contempt for the honorable birth of fellow humans, those fellow humans who are born as the result of a contraceptive having failed and whose very existence is therefore considered to be an unfortunate ``accident,'' rather than a gift of God; it implies the most extreme selfishness, for no advocate or practitioner of artificial birth control would have wanted it for his or her own parents.

Further, contraception undermines the respect of husband and wife for each other and thereby loosens the marriage bond. Worst of all, many "contraceptives,'' such as the IUD and most if not all birth control pills, work by actually causing an abortion early in the pregnancy; thus, this so-called "contraception'' is in reality abortion--the killing of a human being--rather than the preventing of conception.

In every age there is some favorite sin which is accepted by "respectable" worldly Christians; in our times the "acceptable'' sin is contraception--a sin which fits in perfectly with the view that the purpose of human life is to attain earthly happiness. The true Christian couple, on the other hand, will realize that God desires them to have children so that these children can come to know Him and love Him and be happy with Him eternally in Heaven.

Marriage is God's plan for populating Heaven. How wise it is to let God plan one's family, since He loves children much more than do their earthly parents, and His plans for them go far beyond any plans of these parents. Innumerable stories are told of God's Providence to Christian parents who trusted in Him and obeyed His law. For those who have a true and serious need to space or limit the number of their children, the new methods of natural family planning based on periodic abstinence have proven to be extremely reliable (unlike the earlier "rhythm'' methods) .

Finally, the Christian will realize that the self-denial involved in bearing and raising Christian children is a school of Christlikeness. Our Lord said: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.'' (Matt. 16:24). But He also said: "My yoke is sweet and my burden light.'' (Matt. 11:30). God promises sufficient grace to those who seek to obey Him. And the resulting peace of soul which the obedient married couple enjoys is beyond all price.

[source]

Dr. Peter Kreeft: Pro-Choice People are Insane

2008-04-09T20:45:00.002-02:30

This report is about a week old but is certainly worth highlighting.

Dr. Kreeft is one of the pre-eminent Catholic philosophers of our time. I remember being greatly edified with a series of his audio messages just over a year ago. In particular, his message entitled “How to Win the Culture War” seemed so profound yet so Christian in its call to action.

Recently, Dr. Kreeft delivered an address at the Annual Parish Respect Life Coordinator Conference in the Archdiocese of Chicago. Joseph Wemhoff was present and took extensive notes during the talk, summarized in this report.

Jam packed with insight and nuggets galore, Kreeft’s address, "We are living in a spiritual Hiroshima," is challenging for all Christians but will especially appeal to Catholics.

Here’s some reference to Kreeft’s comments about the insanity of “pro-choice” mindset.

Pro-choice people will not-indeed, cannot-listen to reason. Pro-choice people are insane and will not convert to reason-they will attempt to convert reason. Dr. Kreeft cited several cases. In one of his books-which, he bemoaned, are read only by pro-lifers-he made an airtight, logical argument that tolerating abortion is tantamount to tolerating infanticide. Confronted with this logic, pro-choicers said, yes, Dr. Kreeft, you just showed us how infanticide is now OK.

Well worth reading the whole thing.

Why do You Call Your Priest "Father"?

2008-04-08T20:54:00.003-02:30

Third in a series of “Top Ten Questions Catholics Are Asked.”

See the initial posting.

___________________

"And call no man you father your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven" (Mt 23:9).

In this passage, Jesus is teaching that God the Father alone is ultimately the source of all authority. But He is not speaking absolutely, because if so, that would eliminate even biological fathers, the title "Church Fathers." the founding fathers of a country or organization, and so on. Jesus himself uses the term "father" in Matthew 15:4-5; 19:5, 19, 29; 21:31, John 8:56, and several other places.

In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus actually has Lazarus using the address "Father Abraham" twice (Luke 16:24, 30. See also Acts 7:2; Rom. 4:12; James 2:21).

St. Paul also uses the term when he writes, "I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (1 Cor. 4:15. See also 1 Cor. 4:14-16), and refers to "our forefather Isaac" (Rom. 9:10).

____________________

More Resources

**An excellent yet brief explanation by John Martignoni of Christian Bible Society

**More detailed apologetic from Catholics United for the Faith
'Call No Man Father'? Understanding Matthew 23:9

Catholic Website Drawing Thousands Back to the Faith

2008-04-07T20:31:00.003-02:30

Catholic News Agency reports some phenomenal results from a Catholic lay organization that is succeeding in bringing people back to the Catholic Church through its unique website ministry and television ads.

In less than three weeks, 3,000 Catholics returned to the Church in the Diocese of Phoenix due to the effort of a new lay apostolate, CatholicsComeHome.org. The program consists of a website and commercials aired on local television that effectively portray the truth and goodness of the Catholic Church.

It’s a very comprehensive website and people are directed to the site through very compelling and professional videos. Visitors are provided with answers to questions about Church teachings and why strong faith is important in today’s busy and confusing world. The site also offers an overview of the faith, with additional resources and a local parish finder.

Seventy-eight of the 100 participants had positive responses to the ads. In another assessment, the organization found that before watching the videos, 90% of the participants had negative impressions of the Catholic Church. After viewing ads one time, 54% had a much more favorable impression. Hearts and minds were changed after viewing these creative and inspired ads.

The video ads are all available on the website.

Not only have people enjoyed the video clips, but they have also succeeded in bringing people back to the Church. One woman, Angela, said that she became an agnostic 20 years ago. After watching the video she commented, “How is it that after seeing the commercial one time, I go to the CatholicsComeHome.org website, look up my local church and go home?”

It's a fantastic idea and obviously every diocese ought to have just such a website and program to help wayward and lost souls.

Support Pro-Life Culture. Buy Butterfly for 99¢

2008-04-06T20:09:00.002-02:30

"Butterfly rising: got 99¢?"

That’s the title of one of Jill Stanek’s recent posts.

I wrote earlier this week about the pro-life country song we need to help make a hit.
Butterfly, by the band Bluefield, has a beautiful message that has already saved at least 3 babies' lives.

Listen to it. Save a life maybe.

I Give Michael Coren the Benefit of the Doubt

2008-04-06T19:27:00.003-02:30

My last posting was an attempt to defend the notion that those who do not adhere to and espouse (all) the moral precepts advanced by the Roman Catholic Church and historic Christendom may rightfully be labeled as moral relativists.

The more controversial issues of our day which fall in this category I would conclude to be contraception, abortion, divorce and homosexuality. As I noted in an earlier critique on the progression of conservative thought, conservatives appear to be the night watchmen at the liberal (de)construction site insofar as these moral precepts are suffering increasing compromise under their watchful and silent eyes.

My critique tagged Michael Coren with the same label but I was subsequently challenged to produce some evidence for my claim. All I really had at the time to support my opinion was a hodgepodge of impressions from several years of reading Coren or viewing him on his TV show.

No doubt the man is growing in his faith as a Catholic—as I am—and so there was little point in going back in ancient history simply to retrieve ammunition for my claim.

Conclusion: I’ve waded through a significant amount of online articles and records but I have not found anything of substance which definitively places him in the camp of the moral relativists. On the point of contraception, which is the normal tell tale issue and the big giveaway, I note that Coren has been very careful indeed, if not somewhat ambiguous, in his language. No doubt he realizes the hazards of speaking forthrightly to his readers on this subject.

Perhaps this fact alone does bring him one very big step closer to deserving the label, but at this point it would be premature as far as I can see. Coren did make an important appearance at the Humanae Vitae 2006 Conference as a conference speaker on abortion, although the context of the conference was “Why the Church is right and why the culture is wrong about contraception.”

I think the most helpful collection of Coren’s thoughts on these various moral issues appeared about a year ago in the Toronto Sun in a column entitled Hey bishop, follow don't edit. See what you think.

Not the funny bishop though. "We must challenge the church's condemnations throughout the centuries of such things as masturbation, birth control, abortion, and homosexuality." When I was a boy we had a word for people who approved of masturbation. Mind you, I think we also had a word for people who couldn't think straight.
Perhaps we should also challenge the church's condemnation throughout the centuries of such things as poverty, cruelty, injustice and hatred. After all, those condemnations come from the same Bible, the same God, the same Jesus that necessitates the condemnation of sexual immorality.

Issues of sexuality are complex and demand compassion. But we can declare some absolutes. We are given sexuality both for pleasure and for procreation. To abuse it is little different from abusing strength or money. So just as we reject the bully or the loan shark we reject the person who uses sex only for selfish purposes.

To misunderstand this is to misunderstand human nature and divine love. Sex wouldn't be pleasurable unless God had wanted it to be and it seems to me that those who know this best are genuine Christians with their large families and their obvious joy in life.

Abortion is about power. The power of an adult over the least powerful being on Earth, the unborn child. To take innocent life is fundamentally anti-Christian and is, again, an abuse of that power. The ultimate abuse. Not sure how anybody who claims to believe in social justice cannot understand this.

Homosexuality? Constant understanding for the individual but unwavering commitment to historic and unchanging Christian teaching. It's so easy to appear fashionable but so meaningless. If we compromise on truth we might as well compromise on goodness as well.

This certainly constituted a most rare assault on the culture and mentality of our day and Coren is to be commended. I suppose I am still feeling a little stung by some of my past impressions of Coren and particularly by one of his very recent columns in February past on Archbishop Rowan Williams.

Coren was, as usual, insightful and witty in his remarks. However, when he said, “Roman Catholicism and the evangelical church stand firm and, no surprise at all, Islamic and Jewish orthodoxy are growing steadily,” I think he really muddied the waters badly.

The fact is that what we see as the “normal” Canadian practice of "Roman Catholicism” is largely a charade and counterfeit. Some reference by Coren to official teachings or the Magisterium would have been essential because his ordinary readers live amongst pseudo-Catholics and have little or no understanding of official Catholicism.

Secondly, it simply isn't true that the evangelical church (ecclesial communities) is standing firm. I speak from experience. They are actually disintegrating along with their more liberal and dead Protestant brethren and all the while encouraging a more pervasive culture of personal moral relativism. There are really only a small number of "evangelicals" standing firm and I suspect those might prefer the term "fundamentalists." The evangelical "church" is only one or two steps from the coffin itself. I was disappointed that Coren wasn’t clearer on that.

But in the meanwhile, until new evidence comes to light, I apologize to Michael Coren for lumping him indiscriminately with conservative type moral relativists. In fact, as I said in my previous posting “It would be a very pleasant outcome indeed to discover that I was wrong about Michael Coren.”

Keep the (objective & absolute) good stuff coming Michael!

Moral Relativism: Cause and Cure

2008-04-05T23:00:00.007-02:30

Recently, I stepped into a discussion of “progressive” conservatives and moral relativism. I promised a follow up post on a point raised in that discussion. Before I get to that post, I’d like to clarify my understanding of what constitutes “moral relativism.”

The following is an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry “Veritatis Splendor” with only the pertinent hyperlinks retained.

Veritatis Splendor (Latin for "The Splendor of Truth") is an encyclical by Pope John Paul II. It expresses the position of the Catholic Church regarding fundamentals of the Church's role in moral teaching. The encyclical is one of the most comprehensive and philosophical teachings of moral theology in the Catholic tradition. It was promulgated on August 6, 1993.

Summary
Veritatis Splendor responds to questions of moral theology that had been raised in the Church, especially in the latter half of the 20th century. These questions revolve around man's ability to discern good, the existence of evil, the role of human freedom and human conscience, mortal sin, and the authority of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church in guiding man. In response to these, Pope John Paul II emphatically insists that moral truth is knowable, that the choice of good or evil has a profound effect on one's relationship with God, and that there is no true contradiction between freedom and following the good.

Response to moral relativism
Veritatis Splendor begins by asserting that there are indeed absolute truths accessible to all persons. Contrary to the philosophy of moral relativism, the encyclical insists that moral law is universal across people in varying cultures, and is in fact rooted in the human condition. Pope John Paul teaches that no matter how separated someone is from God, "in the depths of his heart there always remains a yearning for absolute truth and a thirst to attain full knowledge of it." He goes on to say that the splendor of truth "shines forth deep within the human spirit.

Moral authority of the Catholic Church
Ultimately, John Paul teaches, "to ask about the good, in fact, ultimately means to turn towards God, the fullness of goodness." Against the idea that the Church's teaching body has a mainly exhortatory role, the pope reiterates the Catholic doctrine that the Magisterium of the Catholic Church has authority to definitively pronounce on moral questions. Even more, John Paul teaches that the Church is Christ's particular response to help answer everyone's question of what is right and wrong.

Counting the above excerpt as a good summary of the teaching of Veritatis Splendor and its detailed refutation of moral relativism, it is clear that writers particularly must enunciate and defend those same moral precepts as the Church’s in order to avoid the label “moral relativist.”

One need not be a Catholic to do so, although Catholics—more than anybody else—ought to be the least confused about this subject, given the clear and constant teaching of their Church. However I believe it can be shown that until the early part of the twentieth century, virtually all Christians held unanimously to the same moral code as that of the Roman Catholic Church.

Which was very much an important point of my previous posting.

*****

More resources on moral relativism:

Audio mp3 of moral relativism from philosopher Peter Kreeft
A Refutation of Moral Relativism
Transcription of audio here with cogent summary here

Stand to Reason: The Intolerance of Tolerance

Clever Google video on AbsoluteTruth

Pope's US Trip Not Just for Catholics

2008-04-04T21:35:00.001-02:30

Benedict XVI is said to bring “an amazing theological depth to ecumenical and interreligious relations."

WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 4, 2008 (Zenit.org).- When Benedict XVI travels to the United States this month, ecumenical and interreligious relations are a priority on his agenda, according to an aide of the nation's conference of bishops.

Father James Massa, executive director of the U.S episcopal conference's Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said this is because "the Pope is convinced that there will be no peace in the world until there is peace among the religions. That is why he comes to the table of dialogue here in the U.S. and in Rome, with hope and abiding conviction."

Read the rest of this encouraging and insightful article by Zenit news.

And please pray for the Pope’s upcoming visit to America. He goes as Supreme (earthly) Pastor and, in certain significant aspects, the salvation of an entire nation is at stake.

Pew Forum Finds Clear Demographic Changes in American Catholicism

2008-04-04T21:18:00.002-02:30

No other major faith in the U.S. has experienced greater net losses over the last few decades as a result of changes in religious affiliation than the Catholic Church.

So finds the Pew Forum in a profile of America's Catholic population released in advance of Pope Benedict's visit to the US.

I don’t imagine that it was commissioned in order to impress the Pope.

Only 41% of self-identified adult Catholics attend Mass each week, the Pew study found. That number is lowest among young adults, with just 30% of Catholics aged 18- 29 attending Mass weekly (by comparison, the figure is 63% among those over the age of 65)—a figure that suggests still greater decline in the number of active Catholics in coming years.

Who, other than the Bishops of America, can address this awful calamity? My prayer is that Benedict’s visit may stir them to the depths of their half-heartedness.

I suspect a Canadian survey would reveal much the same trend except even more advanced in apostasy.

The entire profile can be found on the Pew Forum web site.

MercatorNet Confronts and Dissects Their Enemies

2008-04-04T20:39:00.001-02:30

Do you subscribe to MercatorNet’s weekly newsletter? I recommend their articles.

This is what they claim about themselves.

We're proud to have enemies and we attack them repeatedly by confronting them with evidence. Here they are: moral relativism, scientism, crass commercialism, utilitarianism, materialism -- in short, any ism which reduces persons to ciphers and treats them as soulless machines. We delight in dissecting media cliches.

I highlight in particular three items from this week’s mailing of MercatorNet.

Who's oppressing who?
Barbara Kay, one of Canada's leading newspaper columnists takes on the ideology of feminism.

What's wrong with postmodernism?
Islam is not the only ideology competing for the loyalty of the West.

The donut of liberal history
In a new book about the evolution of liberty in the West, 1500 years of Christian civilization counts for nothing.

Why Do You Obey the Pope?

2008-04-02T22:45:00.003-02:30

Second in a series of “Top Ten Questions Catholics Are Asked.”

See this previous posting.

**********

Why Do You Obey the Pope?

Catholics believe that Jesus commissioned St. Peter as the first leader of the Church.

Matthew's Gospel has the most direct biblical indication of the papacy: "And I tell you, you are Peter [meaning literally "Rock"], and on this rock I will build my church...I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 16:18-19). Based on this statement of Jesus himself, Peter is clearly portrayed in the New Testament as the leader of the disciples.

A pope can make infallible, binding pronouncements under certain conditions. Infallibility doesn't mean that absolutely everything a pope says is free from error. All Christians believe that God protected Holy Scriptures from error, by means of inspiration, even though sinful, fallible men wrote it.

We Catholics also believe that God the Holy Spirit protects His Church and its head from error (John 14:16), by means of infallibility, even though imperfect men are involved in it.

*****

Other good resources dealing with this same question:

Two short Q & A from The Augustine Club here and here

The Primacy of Peter

From Catholics: What do they Believe?

Downloadable mp3 entitled Apostolic Authority and the Pope

Of Course Late Term Abortions Take Place in Canada as Well

2008-04-01T18:32:00.002-02:30

Only last week, Suzanne at Big Blue Wave posted about the reality of late term abortions taking place in Canada (and elsewhere) and the skepticism expressed by abortion advocates towards such claims.

The debate over the truth of such claims has intensified in recent days amidst the controversy surrounding Bill C-484. Today, Suzanne posts again on the subject, sharing information obtained from British sources.

The study looked at 239 abortions performed at this tertiary centre, between the years 2000 and 2005.

The range of gestational ages were from 20 weeks, 6 days to 36 weeks, 3 days. Practically full-term, if you ask me.

They were killed by injecting potassium chloride into the baby's heart. I know some of you who are reading probably delivered children at that age.

Imagine taking that same baby and injecting potassium chloride into his heart.

That's just sick.

But hey, fetuses are not that important! And fetuses are none of our business. As Joyce Arthur would say. If they happen to suffer an injection of potassium chloride to the heart, well, too bad. They're not "living breathing" human beings, so their pain doesn't count. They had the misfortune of not drawing oxygen through their lungs, their welfare and suffering is utterly irrelevant.

Never mind that these babies would have had to been expelled through a normal delivery process anyway. They could have been delivered live and given palliative care. They would have been "living, breathing" by then, but since they're not before, who cares, right?

Yes, it is a shocking reality that this same barbarism takes place in Canada as well, at least to some extent, perhaps at a rate comparable to the British statistics.

But bear in mind that whether 24 weeks old or 24 days old, the Unborn are human beings and killing them at any stage is a grave moral offense.

If you’d like to get more details on the late term version of child killing and you have the stomach for it, you can do this search on Suzanne’s blog and scroll down through a long list of postings on the subject.

Are You Saved?

2008-03-30T22:05:00.001-02:30

29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." Acts 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,” as Paul and Silas noted above, is a brief and practical response to the question, “What must I do to be saved?”

For the serious and anxious enquirer, who seeks a fuller answer to this question for the good of his/her eternal soul, please refer to this summary.

For professing Christians, we recognize the Holy Scriptures have more to say than simply the words of Acts 16:31—and the evidence is plain that not all Christians have agreed with the Catholic Church in its presentation of the truth regarding salvation.

Evangelical Christians have done an exceedingly effective job in forcing Catholics—many nominal, some not—to ask themselves whether such terminology applies to them. Often, Catholics will ask, “How should I respond to someone who asks me if I've been saved, or born again?”

It is hoped that Catholics might be ready to reply with a resounding, "Yes!" to those who ask them such a question.

Tell them that it is through Baptism that you were saved, just as the Bible says in 1 Peter 3:20-21 and that it is through Baptism, water and the Spirit, that you are "born again," just as the Bible says in John 3:5.

You see, many Protestants believe that they are saved by making one single act of faith at one single point in time in their lives. Nowhere does Scripture say such a thing. As Catholics, however, we believe that salvation is a process which begins with our Baptism and continues throughout our lifetimes, just as the Bible teaches us.

There are so many places in Scripture, which talk about how one is "saved", but not one of them says we are saved by one act of faith at just one point in time. As I just mentioned, 1 Peter 3:20 says we are saved by baptism. In Hebrews 12:14 it says that we will not see the Lord unless we are holy, and that we have to strive for this holiness. In Matthew 6:14-15, it says we must forgive others or we will not be forgiven. Can you attain salvation if God hasn't forgiven you? No! So, our forgiving others is necessary for our salvation.

1 Tim 2:15 says that woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness with modesty. John 6:54 says we will have eternal life by doing something...eating the flesh and drinking the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Matthew 19, verses 16 and 17, Jesus is asked directly what one must do to have eternal life. Did He say, Accept me into your heart once and that’s it? No! Jesus said to keep the commandments and you will have life.

Yes, as Catholics we are born again. And, as Catholics we believe that we were saved, as Paul says in Rom 8:24; that we are being saved, as Paul says in 1 Cor 1:18; and that we will be saved, as Paul says in Rom 5:9-10, provided we persevere and keep our eyes on the prize. Salvation is a process, just as Catholics believe, and just as the Bible clearly teaches.

John Martignoni of Christian Bible Society

There’s more on this subject in one of my former posts, found here.

The Renewal of Baptismal Promises

2008-03-30T22:00:00.004-02:30

At Easter time in the Catholic Church, new Christians are baptized and received into the Church and the faithful renew their baptismal vows.

The vows are words which carry tremendous weight and serve as a powerful testimony of a heart turned (turning) to Christ. It is a formula leading to new life in Christ.

If you are outside the fold of Christ, the Good Shepherd, these are words which, when spoken—even silently—from the heart, will start you on a journey to Jesus, the God-Man and Saviour of the world.

I, [your name], who through the tender mercy of the Eternal Father was privileged to be baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19, 5) and thus to share in the dignity of his divine Sonship, wish now in the presence of this same loving Father and of his only-begotten Son to renew in all sincerity the promises I solemnly made at the time of my holy Baptism.

I, therefore, now do once again renounce Satan; I renounce all his works; I renounce all his allurements.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was born into this world and who suffered and died for my sins and rose again. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.

Having been buried with Christ unto death and raised up with him unto a new life, I promise to live no longer for myself or for that world which is the enemy of God but for him who died for me and rose again, serving God, my heavenly Father, faithfully and unto death in the holy Catholic Church.

Taught by our Savior's command and formed by the word of God, I now dare to say:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

If you prayed this prayer for the first time and would like to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in baptism, please visit a Catholic Church and meet with the priest who will guide you further.

May God bless you and keep you faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ for ever and ever.

Amen

P.S. Why not follow up this important posting with another?

4MYC Urges Canadians to Push Hard on Bills C-10 and C-484

2008-03-30T18:51:00.001-02:30

A very important bit of work which the people at 4MYCanada are asking all Canadians to undertake has to do with two current bills before parliament.

1. CLEANING UP MORAL FILTH IN CANADA'S FILM INDUSTRY: C-10

2. CONTINUING TO WORK AT SEEING C-484 (Unborn Victims of Crime Bill) PASSED!

Please click through on this link to their latest ACTION email and do everything you possibly can in support of these urgent initiatives which will make Canada a safer, more just society for us and our children.

Ottawa Archbishop to Meet with Clergy and Laity in St. John’s, Newfoundland

2008-03-30T18:42:00.007-02:30

For the benefit of fellow Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. John's

Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast has made the news recently with some bold comments. On April 15, the Archbishop will be meeting with clergy and laity in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

(St. John’s, NL) Archbishop Terrence Prendergast of Archdiocese of Ottawa will be meeting with the clergy and laity of the Archdiocese of St. John’s in April to discuss the Catholic concept of Stewardship.

[snip]

Rene Estrada who is responsible for developing the Stewardship process in the Archdiocese of St. John’s described stewardship as “involving a spiritual relationship with God. “He continued Stewardship is not a program, but a way-of-life, based in Scripture. The four pillars of stewardship are hospitality, prayer, formation and service.

The one day presentation by Archbishop Prendergast is seen as an opportunity to invite and encourage clergy and parishioners to experience, witness and live the stewardship way of life in response to their baptismal call to discipleship.

Muslim Scholar Denounces Vatican Baptism as Deliberate and Provocative

2008-03-30T18:27:00.005-02:30

UPDATE: see below

Deliberate? Apparently so. Provocative? Not if you know anything about Benedict XVI.

It was big news just a week ago when Benedict XVI baptized a prominent convert from Islam during Easter. There has been some fallout though, as predicted.

VATICAN CITY (AP) - A Muslim scholar who participated in recent Vatican talks to improve Catholic-Muslim relations criticized Pope Benedict XVI's Easter baptism of a prominent convert from Islam as a "provocative" act.

Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born TV and newspaper commentator who has denounced Islam as inherently violently, was baptized by the pope in a vigil service Saturday night in St. Peter's Basilica.

Aref Ali Nayed, director of the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in Amman, Jordan, criticized what he called "the Vatican's deliberate and provocative act of baptizing Allam on such a special occasion and in such a spectacular way."

I thought it was very telling indeed that the Vatican newspaper admitted to the Pope’s desire to make an important statement about religious freedom, something which I had immediately pointed out.

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano denied that the baptism had been played up, saying it was kept secret until just before the ceremony. It described the baptism as a papal "gesture" to stress "in a gentle and clear way, religious freedom."

Not so gentle perhaps, but unequivocally clear.

UPDATE: Cautious Vatican response to Muslim critics on conversion

Are Catholic Beliefs Found in the Bible?

2008-03-29T09:34:00.005-02:30

Catholics are often asked tough questions about their Catholic faith and its relationship to the Bible. Here are the ten most-asked questions and the answers, in admittedly brief format, which should help to satisfy the questioner.

Adapted from a pamphlet available from Our Sunday Visitor entitled “Top Ten Questions Catholics Are Asked” and written by Dave Armstrong, the ten most asked questions are as follows:

1. Are Catholic beliefs found in the Bible?
2. Why do you obey the Pope?
3. Why do you call your priest "Father"?
4. Why do you pray for the dead?
5. Why do you pray to idols (statues)?
6. Why do you confess your sins to a priest?
7. Why do you worship Mary?
8. Why do you worship wafers?
9. If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?
10. Are you saved?

In this posting, I will deal with question #1. I will post on the other questions over the next few weeks.

**********

Are Catholic beliefs found in the Bible?

All Catholic beliefs can be found in the Bible in some form, whether plainly or by indirect indication. It is not necessary for everything to be absolutely clear in Scripture alone, because this is not the teaching of Scripture itself. Scripture also points to an authoritative Church and Tradition, as St. Paul points out in his Second Letter to the Thessalonians: "Stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter" (2 Thess 2:15 -- See also 1 Cor 11:2; 2 Thess 3:6; 2 Tim 1:13-14; 2:2).

When the first Christians had a significant disagreement they didn't simply open their Bibles (they didn't even exist at that point) to decide who was right; they held a council, which made binding decrees (Acts 15:1-29). The very books of the Bible had to be determined by the Church, and that didn't happen until the late fourth century. Therefore, human tradition and authority were necessary for us to even have a Bible today. If you believe that the Bible is infallible then you should also believe that the Church that decided which books should be in the Bible is the Church that has the Truth and has kept it complete and whole for 2000 years (1 Tim 3:15).

[This pamphlet is also available online.]

C484: A Bill about Justice, Not Abortion

2008-03-27T09:54:00.006-02:30

Published today in the editorial section of The Telegram, Newfoundland & Labrador's daily provincial paper.

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C484: A Bill about Justice, Not Abortion

by Eric Alcock

Lane Jr. was 27 weeks old, still in the womb, when his mother Olivia Talbot was fatally shot twice in the head in 2005 by a childhood friend. Baby Lane perished too. Olivia had been shot three times in the abdomen as well. No charges could be laid in Baby Lane’s death.

When Aysun Sesen, 25 and seven months pregnant, was brought to hospital in October 2007 with multiple and fatal stab wounds to her abdomen, her fetus still had a faint heartbeat but died shortly thereafter. Her husband was charged with her slaying. No charges could be laid in the unborn child’s death.

Five pregnant women have been murdered in Canada in the past three years. Unquestionably, the torment of the grieving families of the victims due to their double loss is compounded by the impossibility of securing justice for their newest family member. They say society refuses to recognize their loss. How profound their pain!

Bill C-484 brings justice to these unborn children and their families. C-484 is titled “Unborn Victims of Crime Act,” and will amend the Criminal Code to prosecute attackers who injure or kill an unborn child during the commission of a crime against the mother.

Thus far, the word “abortion” is as distant from the discussion as green cheese. Why? Because C-484 has nothing to do with abortion. The bill explicitly excludes abortion. Clear headed and fair minded Canadians obviously agree. An Angus-Reid poll showed 70% of Canadians support this legislation, with only 19% of women suspecting the government of a sneak attack on abortion rights.

Joyce Hancock of the Newfoundland and Labrador Feminist Coalition recently captured the attention of The Telegram by claiming the federal conservatives were using C-484 as a back door attack to outlaw abortion. Ask Hancock what she sees in the bill and she’ll tell you abortion.

But I’ll let you in on the secret here. What she really sees is a law that recognizes the fetus as a distinct entity, separate from the mother and worth something. And that scares her because radical feminists and abortion advocates have unceasingly drummed into Canadians that, in effect, the fetus does not exist until it’s born. That’s their justification for abortion, which, incidentally, happens to kill the fetus every time. But it’s no excuse for fear mongering and misrepresentation over C-484.

They’ll tell you the bill grants a “form of personhood” or legal status to the fetus. It plainly doesn’t. They’ll try to sidestep the fetus by saying the “real issue” is domestic violence, not losing an unborn child, or that it does nothing to stop violence against women. Perhaps they should check the title of the bill. It’s not a domestic violence bill. We have those already and if they’re ineffective, let them put their energies into improving them.

They’ll tell you the bill blunders through a loophole in favour of perpetrators of domestic violence or that double charges won’t change anything because criminals serve concurrent sentences anyway. False—they’re grasping at straws.

Liberal MP’s in our province voted against this bill. Provincial Opposition Leader Yvonne Jones immediately pledged support for Hancock but admitted she hasn’t even read the bill! How telling. Shame on them all!

Get fully informed about C-484. Visit MP Ken Epp’s website where you can examine the bill from every possible angle. Contact your own MP as soon as possible and urge support for this bill which corrects a serious flaw in our justice system.

Strictly Links in This Posting—For Better Than Average Reading

2008-03-26T21:04:00.002-02:30

Here are some interesting, better than average stories and links farmed from my surfing. I don’t have time to blog about them but they’re worth passing along to you.

Help yourself.

A cafeteria Catholic’s confessions MAGGIE MARWAH

Canada orders ministry by Christians shut down

Into the Font, Into the Fold
Posting by Rocco Palmo on Easter baptisms and conversions to the Catholic Church

The Church needs priests who live authentic obedience, says Peruvian bishop

Staggering changes taking place in religion in Ontario's Bible belt

Immigrants fuelling church revival in London Ontario
But is it really a “revival” or is it simply an influx? This one I’d really like to look into deeper and put together a post—if only I had the time. Lots of good stats in this story.

How comic books ruined the nation
Comic Books Ruined Our Nation Too? In addition to contraception, of course. :)

Missionaries from Canada a dying breed

Pure Fashion is an outgrowth of Challenge Clubs, groups for girls in Catholic churches

Shocker: Pope urges students to have personal relationship with Christ
Just kidding. It’s not really so shocking at all. It’s authentic Catholicism at work.

Bush to Welcome Benedict XVI at Airport

Seventeen Percent of Americans have Never Heard of the Pope

2008-03-26T20:01:00.006-02:30

This seems like a surprisingly high figure. I might have guessed 5% or something like that. I wonder what the figures would be for Canadians?

But the good news is that in the lead up to the Pope's visit to the US, most Americans are at least warm towards the Pope.

The survey results show that Americans have a generally positive opinion of the Pope and the Catholic Church. Most hope that during his visit Pope Benedict will address the place of spiritual values in ordinary life.

Fifty-eight percent of the United States residents polled have a “favorable” or “very favorable” opinion of Benedict XVI, while 13 percent have an “unfavorable” or “very unfavorable” opinion of the Pope.

The Void at the Center of the Church's Activity

2008-03-25T21:48:00.004-02:30

A particularly pointed posting from Uncle Di at the CWN website summarizing the last five years worth of postings, all 4600 to be exact. I could be wrong but perhaps Diogenes has finally figured out himself the real reason for all those posts and now he’s officially gone on the record [pun intended] with it. It seems he is positively dumbstruck and in awe over the stark absence in ecclesiastical circles of a true concern for souls who stand in jeopardy of hellfire.

Imagine a mother whose toddlers crawl past her legs under the kitchen sink, open various bottles marked with the skull-and-crossbones, pour the contents into sippy-cups, and then trot off drinking the contents while she shakes her head in bemused resignation. Either the woman is criminally negligent, or she doesn't believe the marked bottles really contain poison. There is no third possibility.

The eerie but incontestable fact is that most Catholic pastors behave like this unnaturally nonchalant mother. The Church still labels certain bottles with the skull-and-crossbones -- i.e., she still professes a belief in mortal (soul-destroying) sins, but even those of her clergy who give verbal assent to Church doctrine seldom conduct their office in a way that is intelligible if the doctrine were true.

I think what Uncle Di says is not surprising—but admittedly rare to see it put so succinctly in print—but I suspect his observations would be lost on the majority of Catholics.

I think this is why Evangelical Christians have such a difficult time believing that the Catholic faith emphasizes conversion of the soul. The “born again” experience of Evangelicals is tied strongly to a solid belief in the spiritual realities of salvation, heaven and hell and for the most part helps the Evangelical to stay focused on a concern for his/her own soul as well as the souls of others.

This is why I believe they’ve been labeled “Bible thumpers.” It’s not that they “thump” with the Bible per se but they do believe the Bible warns a man of the dangers facing his soul and urges a right relationship with God through faith. This is pretty basic stuff and it’s why, generally, they engage in evangelism and why they are called “Evangelicals.”

What Uncle Di observes explains precisely why the rank and file Catholic is not likewise seen to be very cognizant of their spiritual need. Their spiritual leaders—with shockingly few exceptions—are insensitive or oblivious to spiritual dangers. There might be many angles to this phenomenon and therefore many explanations but I think a significant factor relates to the nature of Catholic teaching on the formation of conscience.

Put simply and briefly, I think the Catholic has little leeway with picking and choosing what he/she believes. That kind of attitude in itself is fatal to the faith and when it becomes an entrenched attitude in Bishops the result is what we see in our own Canadian society.

Stefan’s website is full of this kind of subject. Here’s a basic article with which to start. He’s a great fan of Uncle Di, by the way.

P.S. What I said about Evangelicals doesn’t place them on a level above Catholics. It may make some of them better practicing Christians and it likely means that shocking numbers of Catholics are unwittingly living in peril of their souls. But ALL Christians must return to the fold if they are to fulfill the will of Christ and impact the world as the visible Body of Christ, which is what Christ prayed in the Garden. (John 17:20-23)

The problem, in short, is not with the Catholic faith, which remains a true witness of Christ and His Truth. The problem is with unfaithful pastors.

P.P.S. One Evangelical blogger's current discussions on her journey into the Catholic Church.

A Blog Dedicated to the Reunion of all Christians

2008-03-25T20:33:00.002-02:30

Have you heard of it? PrincipiumUnitatis.

A blog dedicated to the reunion of all Christians.

Now back up and running.

Let unity, the greatest good of all goods, be your preoccupation.
St. Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to Polycarp)

Autism and "The Many Shapes of Personhood"

2008-03-25T20:28:00.002-02:30

I refer you to an extraordinary You Tube video produced by Amanda Baggs, a 27 year old autistic woman, and which is embedded in an article by Wired magazine. It’s entitled The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know.

The article is excellent background for the video. It’ll definitely make you think about the concept of personhood, which I think is Amanda’s goal.

h/t Mirror of Justice

Moral Arguments in Defense of the Unborn Too Rare

2008-03-25T19:53:00.004-02:30

Posted on the Vote Life, Canada! blog under the same title.

Today is International Day of the Unborn Child 2008. For more blog postings related to this event please visit Big Blue Wave for reports.

I’ve chosen to post an article by Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason. In this short article Greg shares his grave concern for the pro-life movement because of fairly recent trends which focus too much on the woman in the debate over abortion. He claims, and I believe rightly, that we are becoming more and more reluctant—and losing our ability—to advance moral arguments in the defense of the Unborn.

If our actions and our behaviour in general are not expected to be informed by sound reason or principles (did I hear someone mention “absolute truth?”) then on what will we base our lifestyle decisions?

**********

Abortion: If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em?

Gregory Koukl

The last few years have witnessed a stunning development in the pro-life movement, one worth considering.

The problem: More and more pro-lifers refuse to discuss abortion. A new wave of pro-life leaders insist that victory will not be gained if the debate centers principally on the morality of killing the unborn.

Paul Swope calls it “a failure to communicate” when right-to-lifers focus primarily on the unborn instead of on the felt needs of women. “The pro-life movement must show that abortion is actually not in a woman’s own self-interest,” he says. Reframing the debate will enable the movement to “regain the moral high ground in the mind of the American public.” The message is clear: Focus on the life of the mother, not the death of the child.

But it’s hard to imagine how appealing to self-interest could be an effective general strategy. Here’s why: It’s almost always in a woman’s short-term self-interest to abort. This is precisely why the pro-abortion side has been effective. A focus on felt needs favors death, not life.

How can we “regain the moral high ground in the mind of the public” if we retreat from the moral debate? The whole point of an ethical argument is to turn people from selfish interests to what is right. Felt needs are the problem, not the solution.

This approach completely sabotages the pro-life position. Crisis pregnancy centers do not exist to handle pregnancy (hospitals and clinics do that). They handle crisis pregnancies, those that will likely end in abortion. They don’t exist for the woman, strictly speaking, but for the child whose life is in danger. Women should not have abortions precisely because abortion is a moral tragedy. If not, then why oppose it?

By contrast, this new tactic implicitly promotes the vice of selfishness instead of the virtue of sacrificial motherhood. Ideas have consequences, and this one may have, as Frank Beckwith observes, “the unfortunate consequence of increasing the number of people who think that unless their needs are pacified they are perfectly justified in performing homicide on the most vulnerable of our population.”

Shifting the focus away from the unborn is morally disastrous, undermining the legitimacy of the entire pro-life case. Our position just is a moral one, period. Abandoning the ethical foundation for a trendier message means the pro-life movement no longer has any reason to exist. Instead, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Our growing reluctance to advance moral arguments and instead focus on the self-interest of the mother is a tacit admission we either don’t have a moral case to offer or that it simply doesn’t matter because it’s irrelevant. In either instance, pro-lifers have not just abandoned the moral argument, they’ve abandoned the fight altogether. This we cannot do.

[Source]

Pope Benedict Baptizes Prominent Muslim Magdi Allam

2008-03-23T17:02:00.005-02:30

UPDATED: see below

Expect fallout.

One can only assume from this that the Pope means what he says when he constantly reiterates that all peoples—including Muslims—must have the freedom to pursue truth and the religion which their conscience dictates.

But the price will be high. It was for the Christians in Rome. Obviously the Pope knows this.

The mass came some 12 hours after an Easter vigil service on Saturday night where, in a surprise move, the pope baptized Muslim-born convert Magdi Allam, 55, an outspoken journalist and fierce critic of Islamic extremism.

At the morning Mass, the pope read a prayer saying that after Christ's resurrection some 2,000 years ago "thousands and thousands of people converted to the Christian faith" and he added: "This is a miracle that still renews itself today."

The Egyptian-born Allam's conversion to Christianity -- he took the name "Christian" for his baptism -- was kept secret until the Vatican disclosed it in a statement less than an hour before the Saturday night service began.

Slideshow here.

UPDATE: This is the sort of injustice which Benedict XVI has protested as a grave violation of religious freedom.

Also Magdi Allam Recounts His Path to Conversion

Also see this very amazing story reported today on Joel Rosenberg's blog.

Confession Makes the News in Canada’s National Post

2008-03-23T16:43:00.001-02:30

Don’t expect to come away with any sense of understanding the Catholic sacrament of Confession from reading this article in the National Post. Misrepresentation runs from subtle to blatant.

For the sake of balance, try one of the summaries below:

The short (and scriptural) version on why Catholics confess their sins to a priest.

Protestants have a long list of objections to Catholic teaching regarding confession.

Here’s a very brief guide for the Catholic on the practice of confession.

Perhaps I Was Wrong About Michael Coren

2008-03-23T14:30:00.003-02:30

A few days ago I lumped Michael Coren together with “conservative colleagues” and accused him of being a moral relativist.

It has been brought to my attention that I might be wrong about Coren. After considering the matter, I admit I need to at least substantiate my claim—or my suspicions. I would like to think otherwise about Coren, who, as I admitted in my posting, writes brilliantly and once again illustrated that fact over the last couple of days.

Perhaps I was too quick to pin the label on Coren but I did so at the time because of some existing impressions pertaining to Coren’s positions on sodomy, divorce and contraception. Also, I must now confess to a careless misreading of the quote [from the article by Coren] which appeared in my posting. At the time I thought Coren’s comment about perversion related to his views on homosexuality but upon closer examination it is clear he was speaking of polygamy.

In any case, I apologize for prematurely criticizing Coren without offering a reasonable case for the claim. I will look further into the matter and in the very near future post the results of my inquiry. I will also try to present a more detailed description of what I believe constitutes the label "moral relativist."

It would be a very pleasant outcome indeed to discover that I was wrong about Michael Coren.

Please stay tuned.

Alleluia! He is Risen! Alleluia!

2008-03-23T13:06:00.004-02:30

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Romans 6:4-5

[Image source]

By Whose Stripes Ye Were Healed

2008-03-21T07:56:00.005-02:30

Who, by his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.
I Peter 2:24

Artwork above:
Matthias Grunewald, "The Crucifixion", 1515 (140 Kb); Panel from the Isenheim altarpiece: oil on wood 269 x 307 cm (105 7/8 x 120 7/8 in); Musee d'Unterlinden, Colmar

In Persona Christi: Holy Thursday, The Priest and Contraception

2008-03-20T23:34:00.004-02:30

From Father Tom’s Spirit & Life Column at Human Life International.

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In Persona Christi: Holy Thursday, The Priest and Contraception

By John Mallon

In Persona Christi, the priest stands for the Bridegroom in ministering to His Bride, the Church. In bringing new life to the Bride in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, he acts in a husbanding role and as a father. He cultivates.

The marriage bed is the altar of the domestic Church. Just as the priest brings new life spiritually, (zoe), to the Bride on the altar, the husband brings new biological life, (bios), to his wife on the marriage bed. In confecting and administering the Eucharist the priest brings new life to the family of Heaven, and the husband brings new life to the family on earth. In each case God is directly involved. Only through the Holy Spirit at the hands of the priest can bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ; and in human intercourse, only God can create a soul through the union of husband and wife.

The more one meditates on this Bridal mysticism the more staggering and beautiful it becomes, and the more the horror of contraception comes into relief.

In Genesis, when God set about to create man He said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," (Gen 1:26a). He spoke in plural. God is not a lone male figure, but a family: the Trinity. He went on to say, "Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground," (Gen 1:26b), here also indicating man as family. Man as species, man complete as one flesh. He also shares His dominion with man.

In the image of God, man not only images what God the Holy Trinity is, a family, but also images what God does: love and give life.

Feminist ideology, which often counters our message, doesn't get this. It thinks in term of separateness, not unity. It is an ideology of despair, especially despairing of love; despair issuing from a failure of love - sin - the despair that comes from being sinned against, and taking refuge in more sin. It is despair buried under generational layers of abuse, exploitation and sin. Whereas, the Church holds up loving union; with love as its path.

Human sexuality and reproduction, as one of God's greatest gifts, was wrapped by Him in pleasure and love, but too many in our time merely play with the wrappings and throw away the gift, soon finding only emptiness among the shreds.

The priest is a soldier of love, a soldier of beauty, a soldier of truth - a soldier of life. Sin divides. Sin kills. Contraception divides sperm from egg, husband from wife and man from God. Abortifacient contraception divides the embryo from the womb and, in destroying it, divides the newly minted soul from its tiny body.

The priest is tasked with restoring all things in Christ. This is not easy, but soldiers are men who fight wars, get wounded, maimed and even killed in a cause greater than themselves. Those fallen in this war we call martyrs. In fighting this war you may be killed. Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have both called for a willingness to be martyred on the part of clergy - and all Christians - in these hostile days.

One may not be physically killed, but standing with Christ on the truth of life and contraception may earn him the smaller deaths of ridicule, mockery, and ostracism - even from his brother priests, who may still be under the misapprehension that priesthood is a nice, comfortable and respectable life where they will be well-liked and popular.

It is plausible that on the first Holy Thursday, in Gethsemane, Jesus underwent another kind of death, or perhaps the beginning of the death He would suffer the next day: heartbreak. It is plausible that in that heartbreak he died for the sins of His friends, the Church throughout history, the betrayals and abandonment beginning that very night with Peter's denial and the slumber of His sleepy friends who could not stay awake and watch with Him.

It is He whom you serve. It is He in Whose place you stand. To be bland and uncontroversial is a very poor way to imitate Christ. They don't put you on the cross for mediocrity.

___________
This article can also be found at Humanae Vitae Priests.Org and on John Mallon's personal website http://johnmallon.net

More Relativism from Canada’s Culture Warriors

2008-03-20T23:20:00.006-02:30

Yesterday, from recommended links at No Apologies

STD’s and Liberalism

There were some startling new stats released in the US last week on the rate of incidence of sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers, especially teenaged girls. The numbers are shocking. Today, we link to two columns which both essentially argue that the numbers are a direct result of liberal attitudes about sex education, and about sex in general. Great ammunition if you need to convince some of your liberal friends of the error of their ways.

My question?

Why single out liberals for the error of their ways over sex education when conservatives have been defending contraception—which is the root cause of our present crisis of deformed "safe-sex" mentality—for at least an entire generation?

When will I stop my alarmist rhetoric on this subject?

When would you stop yelling for help if you were drowning?

Furthermore, when will the moral relativists stop harping about homosex and Islam and start focussing on a strategy that will actually make a difference? We all know the problem is precisely the birthrate so why are we dragging our heels?

Timely Links from Catholic Culture for Holy Week

2008-03-20T23:02:00.002-02:30

Received yesterday in an email from Dr. Mirus.

…take advantage of our extensive liturgical year materials on Holy Week.

Please note also the Spiritual Reading for the Sacred Triduum and Easter recommended there. In addition, two new items in our library may prove useful:

The Pope's homily on Palm Sunday to 50,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square: Purifying Our Hearts in Order to Recognize God.

A convert psychologist's advice on formation of conscience: Conscience and the Obedience of Faith.

Michael Coren and the Progression of Conservative Thought

2008-03-20T22:46:00.007-02:30

In Saturday’s Toronto Sun, Michael Coren makes his prediction “that polygamy will be legal and accepted in this country within five years.” In a column subtitled “On the heels of gay marriage, polygamy knocks on Canada's door,” Coren argued that the redefinition of the institution of marriage to include people of the same gender has invariably led us to this point.

But he wonders why we find polygamy to be so frightening.

It is certainly jarring, but less so than the notion of people of the same gender, incapable of procreation without the abuse of science, parading as husbands and husbands or wives and wives. It is a perversion of the norm rather than a perversion in itself.

Well, at least he got to call it what it is…a perversion. More could be said but that’s not where I’m going with my posting.

Am I the only one who wonders whether today’s conservatives are really only yesterday’s liberals dressed up in today’s clothes? Don’t you have your own secret suspicions? [No? Give it some thought. Think Stephen Harper for just a moment.]

Today’s conservatives—and understandably a great percentage of them are Christians—have been aghast at the attack on the institution of marriage advanced by the sodomists. They can see clearly that “gay marriage” will logically lead to polygamy and they warn society accordingly. But having lost the ground of biblical marriage and having suffered a humiliating retreat, they are about ready to put their loss behind them. In a few years, as Coren notes, one major step closer to being cornered in the box, they will be busy trying to hold the ground against the polygamists. Fast forward a few more years and they will be the very ones defending, if not practicing, the latest liberal victory of yesterday, “gay marriage.”

Unconvinced? Ask yourself how often today’s conservatives tackle the subject of divorce—once upon a time an unheard-of option for the Christian—which today claims about half of all marriages across the board. For that matter, how many pastors will press two people who cohabitate to live apart until marriage, even when they are in the midst of planning their wedding day?

Ask yourself how often today’s conservatives hearken back to the days when Canadian society was protected from sodomists through legal sanction. Even the great majority of Christians are incredulous and distressed by any suggestion to criminalize the disgusting sex acts engaged in by sodomists yet it wasn’t that long ago when they got sick to their stomach to think such perversion might be de-criminalized.

But for the crowning illustration let’s go back to the first half of the 20th Century when Christians (and conservatives) were issuing the strongest possible warnings about a very pernicious and fundamental perversion of God’s sexual gift which was wooing society at the time. The Anglicans, who were in complete agreement with all other Christian bodies at the time, in response to much pressure, warned all members “against the use of unnatural means of avoiding conception.”

Yes, dear reader, less than one hundred years ago, Christians began to break away in great numbers from the constant teaching tradition of Christendom which prohibited birth control. Conservatives ever since have been defending that hard fought libertine (read “liberal”) success of yesteryear. I’ve posted recently and frequently on the same subject. But since I believe this to be the decisive fulcrum of today’s culture wars I hope readers will forgive me for singing the same old tune. I could use some accompaniment.

If we don’t address that fatal flaw—it will require doing business with God on our knees—the descent into chaos will continue unabated.

I respect Michael Coren and his oft-brilliant columns and he has huge appeal among pro-lifers and the more traditional minded Canadian populace. But unfortunately, like his conservative colleagues, I fear he’s a moral relativist. It’s time for all of them to decide whether they are first Christians or first Conservatives.

Let me put it another way. If two thousand years of constant Christian teaching tradition can’t be trusted to reflect the absolute truth of God’s or man’s nature [on birth control, divorce, and sodomy, as well as marriage and abortion], then there’s nothing left but moral relativity and the inevitable collapse of our once great society. And it can have only one end—the pit of hell. Otherwise God is made out to be a prudish fool for nineteen centuries.

Conservatives, I maintain, are like night caretakers at a construction site, ensuring the framing erected by the day shift remains intact until the grand project is finally complete. And the project foreman is a Liberal.

An even bigger question is whether Conservatives can ever be more than the caretakers and cronies of the Liberals. I say yes but that all depends on whether the national pool of Christian thought can recover its integrity—it’s faithful adherence to God’s revelation.

And that, in turn, depends on whether Canada’s Christian leaders, particularly the Catholic Bishops, can recover their integrity. I highlight the Catholic Bishops because on the matter of contraception the Catholic Church seems to be standing alone, at least in its official teachings, in the defense of this age old Christian doctrine. That should make a turnabout less traumatic.

In the meantime, the question remains: Christian first—or Conservative first? And if Christian, then which kind—the fifty year old kind or the two thousand year old kind?

Michael O’Brien on Moral Anarchy and Signs of Contradiction

2008-03-19T21:49:00.001-02:30

Looks like another must read from Michael O’Brien.

From No Apologies website today:

Moral Anarchy

Michael O’Brien is a Catholic author and apologist. You may have heard of one of his first pieces; a little book he wrote more than 10 years ago called “A Landscape With Dragons“, which was basically a defence of the use of the fantasy genre in children’s literature as a teaching tool in Christian households. O’ Brien has turned into more of a cultural apologist these days, and he has a new essay on his website this month dealing with the notion of “moral anarchy”.

New Publications from the Catholic Bishops of Canada

2008-03-19T21:24:00.006-02:30

Announcement today from the CCCB (Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops) on the availability of the following publications:

Parents: You, Your Children and their Catholic Faith (DVD)
Series of 7 talks said to be ideal for parents and educators bringing children to the Sacraments.

Anybody know anything about this material? I was able to find a little info and video trailer on this series here. It’s not much but more feedback on this series’ faithfulness to the Magisterium would be very much appreciated.

As some may know, serious questions have been raised previously—even by other Catholic Bishops—about some of the catechetical materials used by the Canadian Bishops.

Directory 2008
A yearly publication with loads of information on The Holy Father, the Apostolic Nunciature, the CCCB, the dioceses of Canada and other organizations of the Church.

Lexicon: Debatable and Ethical Questions Regarding Family Life
Published by Pontifical Council for the Family, Rome. According to the CCCB website,
The Lexicon clarifies terms regarding family life and ethical questions that tend to change meanings depending on context and ideology. A clear understanding of terms is presented by more than 80 international experts from various fields in this compendium of articles.

Looks like a helpful resource—and a very comprehensive one—and it should be sound doctrinally considering its source. Thank you, dear Bishops.

Delayed Reaction to Popular Movie Juno Looks Deeper into Cultural Morass

2008-03-19T20:07:00.003-02:30

Remember when “Juno” was all the rage with pro-lifers and conservatives in general? Why, even the pro-aborts were condemning and lamenting it. So it must have belonged to our side, right?

Perhaps we just needed some time for the movie magic of Ellen Page to wear thin before we came to our senses. This week Phyllis Schlafly and Jean Strauss go a little deeper.

Thanks Hollywood. Keep us enthralled and entranced—even while we go down for the third time.

Face it. We're being fooled and the vast majority of the time we haven't a clue as to how. We think as long as we can see an enemy we must be on the right side of things and we've just got to keep on fighting.

But there's only one enemy...and he's not visible.

Ottawa Archbishop Prendergast and Phony Catholics

2008-03-18T11:17:00.005-02:30

Timothy Bloedow, Canadian author, culture warrior and guest columnist over at No Apologies, is peeved at phony Catholics.

What I can’t understand is why people who have rejected Catholicism still want to be considered a “Catholic”? The same goes for anybody, regardless of what classification we’re talking about. You have Evangelical Christians and people of other religions trying to pull the same stunt.

Timothy is chiming in on a news report centering on Ottawa Archbishop Terrance Prendergast—and to which I linked in an earlier posting.

Bloedow is peeved at the response by certain “Catholic politicians” to the Archbishop’s recent comments about denying Holy Communion to pro-abortion Catholics.

So, what brings on this criticism of phony religion? It’s the responses of various Catholic Members of Parliament to Ottawa Catholic Archbishop Terence Prendergast’s recent statement that he would deny communion to pro-abortion MPs.

Some real Catholic MPs like Tom Wappel, Pierre Lemieux and Andrew Scheer answered like Catholics. But a number of Liberal MPs made it clear in their answers that they are Fundamentalist Secular Humanists, not Catholics.

Bloedow is not afraid to speak his mind and he regularly wages a strong campaign against what he believes are the evils threatening Canadian society. I agree with him on a good number of points. Like Tristan Emmanuel, he is an Evangelical Christian taking on the huge task of trying to engage Christians in the public square. I admire their enthusiasm and tenacity.

However, Stefan Jetchick recently took on Bloedow and his book “State vs. Church: What Christians Can Do to Save Canada from Liberal Tyranny” in this series of email exchanges, where he raised a number of concerns about Bloedow’s approach. Read the exchanges and see what you think.

But at least these guys are trying hard to fix some of the monsters let loose in Canadian society due to the neglect of authentic Christian teaching by Catholic Bishops in Canada. Unfortunately, I’m of the opinion that only the Bishops themselves, after due repentance and reparation, are truly able to return Canada to a sound footing and future. After all, Bloedow and his colleagues seem to have tunnel vision in the matter of runaway sterile sex among Christians and political “conservatives,” a handicap that virtually cripples them in getting to the root of Canada’s present woes.

I do think that Archbishop Prendergast has planted some rare and hopeful signs of change in his recent outline of Catholic teaching concerning pro-abortion politicians who call themselves “Catholic” but he will have to quite literally move some of the gates of hell which have been positioned in Canadian society over the last forty or fifty years.

Is he up to it? I really don’t know but I have complete confidence that if he moves forward step by step, does not waver in his responsibilities as Bishop, and if he holds complete fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church, God Himself will move those gates. I think it’s very important for Christians, especially Catholics, to do whatever they can to encourage the Archbishop in the monumental task which he seems to be considering.

Consider emailing the Archbishop right now and commending him for his statements so far. Then encourage him to keep moving this agenda forward. Remember that the Archbishop’s initiatives could trigger the very reformation that we so desperately need here in Canada to stem the tide of our demographic demise as well as the very culture of death which is daily smothering truth and our freedoms.

Most Rev. Terrence Prendergast, D.D.
Archbishop of Ottawa
1247 Kilborn Place
Ottawa, Ontario K1H 6K9
Phone: (613) 738-5025 ext. 233 Fax: (613) 738-0130
email: archbishop@ecclesia-ottawa.org
Website: http://www.ecclesia-ottawa.org

And finally, to get a sense of the frustration and cynicism that currently exists among Catholics on the subject of Canadian Bishops defending Catholic truth, take a look at Paul Gordon’s comments on Archbishop Prendergast’s “idle chatter.”

Reading and Reflecting on Holy Week and Easter

2008-03-18T09:35:00.001-02:30

Well done and very appropriate article for Holy Week by Carl E. Olson

The Easter Triduum: Entering into the Paschal Mystery
A guide to the Easter Triduum, which holds a special place in the liturgical year because it marks the culmination of the yearly celebration in proclaiming the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And if you’re an Evangelical, here’s a bonus article from the same writer.

Lent: Some Catholics deface it while some Evangelicals embrace it
When Catholics embrace faddish falsehoods they usually manage to look both dull and dated. Case in point: "The Ecological Stations of the Cross" used in a prominent parish in North Carolina.

Benedict XVI on the Sacrament of Confession

2008-03-18T09:30:00.000-02:30

In a posting I made yesterday, I stated how rare it was to find a mention of the subject of conversion—let alone an elaboration or a homily—from priests or Bishops in the Catholic Church in Canada. It is even rarer, in my experience at least, to find any mention of confession, otherwise officially known as the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Pope Benedict recently summed up the relationship between the two extremely well in a March 7 address on matters of conscience.

It must be a commitment of pastors and especially of confessors to highlight the close connection that exists between the Sacrament of Reconciliation and a life oriented decisively to conversion.

The entire address, entitled “Benedict XVI on the Sacrament of Confession” was published in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano and is found online through Zenit News service. It’s shorter than you expect so why not take a moment to read it through.

Jesus said to the shepherds, “Feed my sheep.” Catholics need to be fed and deserve to be fed by their priests and Bishops.

Benedict XVI Fed Up With the Hatred and Violence in Iraq

2008-03-17T21:19:00.002-02:30

In an unusual posting today by Rocco Palmo detailing the newest—and only—Christian Church in Qatar, we hear the cry of a distressed Pope Benedict XVI.

After praising the "beautiful witness" of Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, whose body was discovered Thursday after having been abducted by local militants, the pontiff took up his "loud and anguished" cry, saying "Enough with the massacres, enough with the violence, enough with hatred in Iraq!" Noting Wednesday's fifth anniversary of the first strikes on Baghdad, Benedict called on "the Iraqi people, who for five years have been bearing the consequences of war that has provoked the disintegration of its civil and social life: dear Iraqi people, lift up your heads and be yourselves, in the first place, the rebuilders of your national life!"

Changing the Contraceptive Mentality

2008-03-17T20:01:00.006-02:30

Suzanne, at Big Blue Wave, shared a few of her thoughts on my recent article which appeared on the Vote Life, Canada! blog and which was entitled “It’s Not the Homosex, Stupid.” That posting also appeared on Contra|Diction!

Eric at Vote Life, Canada! says that the root of our culture war is the acceptance of the contraceptive mentality. Conservatives, by accepting sterile sex, are complicit in fueling those very things they oppose.

I do agree. However, I think that moralism will only go so far on this point. I think that we are so compromised, we, as a culture don't get it-- at all.

Click through on the link and read the rest of her posting, which is only a couple of paragraphs. I’d like to see much more discussion on this critical subject.

Another superb example of the tunnel vision of conservatives in this area was seen in Saturday’s column by Marsha West, entitled “Sexually transmitted diseases are a result of liberalism.”

Make no mistake about it though: Marsha did an outstanding job of surveying the vast landscape of liberal deception surrounding modern “sexuality” which has so devastated our society. However, as I argued in my article, most Christians today and certainly conservatives like Marsha, seem entirely blind to the most devastating deception ever launched by liberals—the normalization of sterile sex.

When may we expect to hear Marsha tackle the subject of that "most unnatural wickedness?"

And one last reference to the matter of contraception: John Pacheco has posted Retract the Winnipeg Statement wherein he publishes a draft of

the letter to be sent out to all Latin Rite bishops of the Catholic Church on March 31. It calls for the retraction of the Winnipeg Statement, among other measures.

It covers a lot of ground and my signature is in there somewhere with the other 999 signatures on the petition.

Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to USA Less Than a Month Away

2008-03-17T19:27:00.001-02:30

Benedict XVI will be making his long awaited first trip to the USA on April 15-21, touching down in Washington, D.C.

CAN reports that the Vatican Press Office has now published the itinerary for his visit.

There are also indications today that the Pope will make an issue of fidelity in his address to Catholic educators, including colleges and universities. Dissent from official teachings of the Church in academic circles is a problem of enormous proportions in North America.

A recent article I read which addressed this major concern was very helpful to me. Perhaps the reader will benefit from it as well. Keep in mind that it was written over ten years ago and I have read nothing to suggest that the question of fidelity has improved at all since that time.

If we know anything about this Pope, it is that his message will be unambiguous and quite pointed—as it should be, I believe, considering what is at stake. By this time the Holy Father has a very good idea of what it is that Jesus Christ, Son of God, wishes to say to the people of America at this stage in their history and, as His representative, Benedict XVI will be carrying that message.

I suspect that the Holy Father will also make strong and clear points on the subject of respect for human life, as he has on many previous occasions. In fact, it seemed to me that the Pope came out swinging on his trip last year to Brazil, zeroing in on pro-abortion politicians on his flight to Brazil and then shortly after even linking and condemning contraception in the same breath! Needless to say, there was real controversy generated and the usual push-back.

I won’t be at all surprised if the Pope’s visit has a significant effect on the US Presidential elections—if for no other reason, then at least because of increased debate generated on the issue of legalized child-killing in the US. Both Democratic candidates in the race for President, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, are extremely pro-abortion in their platforms.

Watch for the sparks to fly!

Euthanasia Creeping Up On Canada?

2008-03-16T22:06:00.002-02:30

LifeNews.com is reporting that there may be another attempt to legalize assisted suicide after the next national elections. Euthanasia opponents in

Canada

are worried that the case of Robert Latimer, who was recently paroled from prison, could prompt another attempt.

Macleans,ca recently published an in-depth analysis entitled “Robert Latimer's angry crusade” which is eye-opening. If you’re hungry for more insight on what’s happening in Canada on this front, check out this blog posting.

Canada’s Catholic Bishops Pleading for Conversion

2008-03-16T15:12:00.003-02:30

I don’t wish to sound cynical here but in my experience at Mass for the past four years in Canada, it has been a relatively rare occasion when a priest or a Bishop has issued a call to conversion, let alone a strongly worded plea.

Don’t misunderstand me. I hear the Pope constantly reinforcing the Church’s teaching and urging the daily spiritual conversion of all Catholics.

But for me it's been a lamentable concern that such a call is an uncommon thing in Canadian Catholic churches.

So when I saw this headline, it seemed misplaced. I clicked through to the news release on the CCCB website and the actual document entitled “Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion.”

What do you think?

Muslim Radicals Add Martyr’s Blood of Archbishop Rahho to their Crimes

2008-03-16T14:58:00.000-02:30

This story is a few days old but I’d like to post an entry on it with a couple of links. The savage and tragic death of the Archbishop of Mosul only points to the desperation of barbaric madmen. The blood of the martyrs is spreading on the ground of Iraq.

Father Raymond J. de Souza comments on the Archbishop’s death and gives an overview in the National Post of what’s happening to Christians in Iraq.

John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Holy Communion & Obstinate Persistent Sinners

2008-03-16T12:07:00.002-02:30

It is common to find Pope Benedict XVI portrayed as the Enforcer or the Inquisitor, an “arch-conservative,” and so on. He has been attacked for his uncompromising defense of Catholic doctrine and tradition.

He is said to be extreme in his approach in dealing with dissenters and those who flout Catholic teaching. He is criticized for the strict position taken towards Catholic politicians who maintain their pro-abortion attitudes in “Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion.

John Paul II, on the other hand, is said to be conciliatory and flexible, a tolerant man who opened new doors of dialogue. So what did John Paul II say in regard to Holy Communion and obstinate, persistent sinners who refused to comply with Church teaching?

**********

ENCYCLICAL LETTER ECCLESIA DE EUCHARISTIA
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE JOHN PAUL II

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 17 April, Holy Thursday, in the year 2003

Excerpt

35. The celebration of the Eucharist, however, cannot be the starting-point for communion; it presupposes that communion already exists, a communion which it seeks to consolidate and bring to perfection. The sacrament is an expression of this bond of communion both in its invisible dimension, which, in Christ and through the working of the Holy Spirit, unites us to the Father and among ourselves, and in its visible dimension, which entails communion in the teaching of the Apostles, in the sacraments and in the Church's hierarchical order. The profound relationship between the invisible and the visible elements of ecclesial communion is constitutive of the Church as the sacrament of salvation.⁷¹Only in this context can there be a legitimate celebration of the Eucharist and true participation in it. Consequently it is an intrinsic requirement of the Eucharist that it should be celebrated in communion, and specifically maintaining the various bonds of that communion intact.

36. Invisible communion, though by its nature always growing, presupposes the life of grace, by which we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4), and the practice of the virtues of faith, hope and love. Only in this way do we have true communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Nor is faith sufficient; we must persevere in sanctifying grace and love, remaining within the Church “bodily” as well as “in our heart”; ⁷²what is required, in the words of Saint Paul, is “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).

Keeping these invisible bonds intact is a specific moral duty incumbent upon Christians who wish to participate fully in the Eucharist by receiving the body and blood of Christ. The Apostle Paul appeals to this duty when he warns: “Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor 11:28). Saint John Chrysostom, with his stirring eloquence, exhorted the faithful: “I too raise my voice, I beseech, beg and implore that no one draw near to this sacred table with a sullied and corrupt conscience. Such an act, in fact, can never be called 'communion', not even were we to touch the Lord's body a thousand times over, but 'condemnation', 'torment' and 'increase of punishment'”.⁷³

Along these same lines, the Catechism of the Catholic Church rightly stipulates that “anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion”.⁷⁴ I therefore desire to reaffirm that in the Church there remains in force, now and in the future, the rule by which the Council of Trent gave concrete expression to the Apostle Paul's stern warning when it affirmed that, in order to receive the Eucharist in a worthy manner, “one must first confess one's sins, when one is aware of mortal sin”.⁷⁵

37. The two sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance are very closely connected. Because the Eucharist makes present the redeeming sacrifice of the Cross, perpetuating it sacramentally, it naturally gives rise to a continuous need for conversion, for a personal response to the appeal made by Saint Paul to the Christians of Corinth: “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). If a Christian's conscience is burdened by serious sin, then the path of penance through the sacrament of Reconciliation becomes necessary for full participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

The judgment of one's state of grace obviously belongs only to the person involved, since it is a question of examining one's conscience. However, in cases of outward conduct which is seriously, clearly and steadfastly contrary to the moral norm, the Church, in her pastoral concern for the good order of the community and out of respect for the sacrament, cannot fail to feel directly involved. The Code of Canon Law refers to this situation of a manifest lack of proper moral disposition when it states that those who “obstinately persist in manifest grave sin” are not to be admitted to Eucharistic communion.⁷⁶

[emphasis mine]

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke Excommunicates Rebel Women “Priests”

2008-03-16T11:23:00.009-02:30

If ever there was a Catholic Bishop in contemporary times who—were he to take the Magisterium seriously—acted like we might imagine he should, that Catholic Bishop must be the Most Reverend Raymond Leo Burke.

The Archdiocese of St. Louis is on my bookmark list under daily visits and I profit greatly by my visits there. It’s truly a gold mine of fervent and effectual Catholicism. I encourage readers to visit and explore this website at length and delight in a glowing example of episcopal oversight.

Here's the content of a recent interview with the Archbishop that helps us appreciate his goals, and unique style, in ministry for Christ.

This week the Archbishop announced a number of excommunication orders in accordance with his duties as a Catholic Bishop and in keeping with Canon Law. First, there is a declaration of excommunication for three women who rebelliously engaged in a ceremony to be ordained as Catholic priestesses.

Also there is an excommunication order for the most recent Board members of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Corporation, who, even after being warned by the Archbishop, had knowingly joined a church that held and professed views outside the communion of the Catholic Church.

Here are two recent links to get you started:

Questions and Answers Regarding Excommunication of Those Involved in Attempted Ordinations

Declaration of Excommunication of Patricia Fresen, Rose Hudson, and Elsie McGrath (621.44 Kb PDF file)

Like Christ in Everything but Our Lies?

2008-03-16T10:21:00.002-02:30

In a must read commentary from Catholic Culture entitled Lies, Union and Prayer, we are challenged to tackle the fundamental obstacle to a life of holiness: our reluctance to root out and forsake the lies in our lives.

The examination covers much ground, including God’s demand for radical detachment from the ideals and goods of this world, the need for sacrifice, developing a counter-cultural mindset and lifestyle, and the vital necessity of personal Christian prayer.

Given that it’s an exceptionally short exposition, it packs a good punch. Considering we have arrived today at Palm Sunday, and that we face Holy Week, this is a timely meditation which, if taken seriously, can help us prepare for very significant days ahead.

Archbishop Prendergast Following in the Footsteps of Archbishop Raymond Burke?

2008-03-15T23:37:00.002-02:30

I wish.

But we can’t rule it out. Perhaps what Dr. Mirus said a few days ago is true. Perhaps we are seeing an emerging trend and we’re “on the edge of something great, something prepared by God Himself in response to the suffering prayers of countless faithful,” a Wave of the Future.

In any case, Ottawa’s Archbishop Prendergast is ratcheting up the rhetoric and stirring the hornet’s nest a little more. [See two previous posts this week.]

In a lengthy news report from the Ottawa Citizen yesterday, entitled “Catholic MPs stand ground on abortion despite threat,” we were all reminded that the Archbishop

told the Citizen last week that politicians who "obstinately" support access to abortion should be refused communion. He reiterated his position in a radio interview this week.

What did the Citizen do?

The Citizen asked nearly three dozen Catholic MPs to respond to the archbishop's remarks. Ten of them -- seven Liberals and three Conservatives -- did so. The rest either didn't respond or refused comment.

Click through on the link and read some of the unflattering things said of the Archbishop by “Catholic” politicians. Some accused him of blackmail; some said forcing religious views on politicians was doing them a disservice; others advised him that politics and religion don’t mix. [Read the latest official Church statement about the latter claim here.]

Bottom line?

Regardless of their views of the archbishop's position, virtually all the MPs agreed that it would not influence their stance on abortion.

LifeSiteNews got an exclusive interview with the Archbishop yesterday and what a surprising set of his statements indeed! Good Grief! The Archbishop was sounding like the Archbishop of St. Louis, the Rgt. Rev. Raymond Burke, whose record I briefly reviewed in this posting. He even emphasized the crucial role that denial of Holy Communion played in the reformation of the sinner’s ways, a key component of A/B Burke’s education strategy in this controversial matter. Archbishop Prendergast described this as the “medicinal measure,” which indeed it is.

He also emphasized the importance of the Church’s role in this matter in coming “to the assistance of those who serve the public good.” And then finally, a truly unusual and distinguished conclusion to the interview: an Archbishop in Canada discussing the concept of scandal:

If one were to allow Catholic political (or other public) figures to freely espouse abortion without drawing to their attention that this is a grave evil," explained Archbishop Prendergast, "other believers might be tended to accept this, not knowing any better and be led on the wrong path: that is what 'scandal' is. One must do everything possible to prevent others from falling away from the path of Christ - i.e. from being scandalized.

Yes, this is plainly and simply age-old Catholic teaching, but how rare these days to hear a Canadian Bishop discussing the subject when Catholics, especially politicians, have been so busy scandalizing Canadians for decades by their defiant attitudes towards official Catholic teachings. When a Bishop raises this issue, one must wonder where it will end—which is why so few Bishops will be found uttering the “s” word.

Archbishop Burke, on the other hand, makes the “s” word one of the strongest planks in his platform for shaping and reforming Catholic thought in his diocese and in America.

It will soon be time for the Archbishop of Canada’s capital city “to do or to die.” A showdown of sorts is coming. Will the Archbishop act, or will his words soon vanish into fresh Canadian air as he settles into the politically correct chair of his predecessor?

It’s time to write that letter to encourage Archbishop Prendergast to push forward his own “Wave of the Future” and begin to change the moral landscape of Canada.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
[Matt 16:19; Matt 18:18; and in communion with the Holy Father]

Archbishop Prendergast: Do you believe it?

Taken to Task by Some Culture Warriors over Homosex and Other Evils

2008-03-15T16:07:00.008-02:30

Today I posted to the Vote Life, Canada! blog an entry entitled The Fight Against Homosex—and Other Evils and here’s how it started:

I’m not surprised that some culture warriors are disappointed with my recent article entitled “It’s Not the Homosex, Stupid.” The article didn’t make much of a splash but one or more outlets at least linked to it. Most of the feedback I have received has been positive, but discussion of “sterile sex” sharply divides the population into two camps and I must confess that only the smaller camp seemed impressed.

As I also explained in the posting, I thought it was important to go into further detail on the subject.

For those who did read the article—thank you!—but who remain unconvinced and disappointed, I offer the following additional commentary, hoping it will prompt a careful re-read and maybe even trip the switch leading to the new paradigm shift in thinking which I maintained was necessary to make gains on the culture war.

[Aside from our ongoing and constant dependence on God,] I believe our future truly rests on a momentous shift in our current thinking and practice regarding God’s gift of sexuality. I could launch into an argument about how this all depends on the preaching and teaching of Catholic Bishops, who alone possess access to the Magisterium, wherein can be found the mind of Christ on all matters of consequence to man—including the gift of sexuality.

But I won’t. I’ll save that for another day.

Take a look at the post here if you are so inclined.

Radio Interview with Ottawa Archbishop Terrance Prendergast

2008-03-13T21:18:00.003-02:30

Ottawa Archbishop Terrance Prendergast has been in the news this week and he’s been turning quite a few heads. More background can be found in my previous posting. He subsequently did a radio interview yesterday on CFRA. You can listen to the interview here. There’s quite a bit of chatter about the whole affair.

I think it’s a great time for all concerned Catholics to contact the Archbishop [write a letter] and ask him for clarification on his remarks. We should try to get assurance from him that he will tackle the problem of pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians in accordance with Church teaching, i.e. following the example of Archbishop Raymond Burke, as I touched upon a few days ago. Anything less simply won’t be effective.

If the Archbishop won’t agree to stand in full accord with the instruction of the Magisterium on this matter, you can expect this whole incident to blow over in a week or two and not a thing will change.

Dialogue with Your Bishop Can Be the Start of a New Era

2008-03-13T20:47:00.000-02:30

You’ll forgive me if I point out yet another article by Dr. Jeff Mirus of Catholic Culture.

This latest one is a posting to the Catholic Culture blog entitled “The Wave of the Future.” It deals with some fairly recent events at the hospital of St. John & St. Elizabeth in London, England.

If you take a moment or two to read it I think you will be encouraged to some degree and also forced to agree that when Catholics make a serious commitment to hold their Bishops accountable to Catholic teaching, some pretty amazing things can happen. The posting by Dr. Mirus is more proof for my argument that communicating concerns to your Bishop [or to the Pope, if necessary] can be the most productive and earth-shaking exercise on earth. This should not be surprising, given the God ordained role of Bishops and the authority granted to them from Heaven.

So start giving some serious thought to writing/meeting with your Bishop. And in case someone misunderstands, I am not suggesting that such action is a substitute for prayer. We must have BOTH if we are to be victorious in seeing God’s will accomplished on earth.

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Remember?

Update for Those Interested In My Current State of Affairs

2008-03-12T22:12:00.003-02:30

A number of individuals have requested I keep them abreast of developments in my current circumstances, particularly with regard to employment and the possibility of any move related to it. I also indicated updates would be forthcoming.

I am happy to report that I have secured employment in St. John’s area and therefore I do not anticipate a move out of the province. I started my new job yesterday and I will be working in the field of business marketing and promotions for a local St. John’s owned business. It’s a full time position, the pay is quite reasonable and it will no doubt prove to be challenging.

Thank you for your prayers and other expressions of support during this time of change. I know they have all helped to contribute to this outcome.

I will be making a serious effort to keep regular postings to the Contra|Diction! blog because I believe it’s an amazing way to share my journey with God and particularly, at this stage of my life, to share the glories of the Catholic faith.

I may post at times to the Vote Life, Canada! blog as well but it may not be very frequent. Over the last year I posted more than 600 entries to the Vote Life, Canada! blog but it demanded extreme focus and of course I was engaged full time with pro-life work. But thankfully there are still other Canadian pro-life bloggers who are continuing their great work in defense of the Unborn. My pro-life activities will be more restricted to the local level.

Thanks for your interest and concern and be sure to visit Contra|Diction! again.

Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
(Hail to the Cross, our only hope!)

Bishops Scandalizing the Faithful?

2008-03-12T21:20:00.001-02:30

Here's another snapshot of what is taking place around us in the world of episcopal oversight. Dr. Mirus gives his take on some aspects of the kafuffle which has taken place at the USCCB over the “Dallas Charter” which sounds like the American version of our own CCCB’s “From Pain to Hope.”

It’s good to find another piece of the puzzle. But please, dear reader, this is not simply information for the sake of information. Put this to good use. Sharpen your understanding of what’s happening in Christ’s Church and take on your own mission (however pint-sized) to purify the Church.

The Pope on Secularization and the Culture of Images

2008-03-12T20:29:00.006-02:30

On Monday of this week, Benedict XVI addressed a conference taking place in Vatican City.

Note firstly that the conference was “organized to address the increasingly secularized state of the world.” I’m encouraged to hear that such urgent conferences are being hosted by the Holy See. I guess what is most encouraging about it is that such meetings take place in a setting and spirit of co-operation with the Successor of Peter.

I realize that a great many Christians, as well as Catholics, might discount this element as irrelevant, claiming that the outcome of a discussion on secularization has nothing to do with the Pope—or his blessing. However, it must be pointed out that Catholic teaching makes the Pope to be the vital link on this earth with Christ Himself. For this reason, among others, the Pope is said to be the Vicar of Christ.

I suppose the point I am making is simply that if Jesus Christ the God-Man wishes to provide to His Church a solution to the gargantuan threat of secular humanism—and I can’t help believing that He does—then He will provide it through His chief, and duly appointed, representative on earth, the head of His earthly flock. In turn, the Pope will guide Christians to mount a successful campaign against the evil of secularization—if they but listen and obey.

All this, of course, is rather elementary Catholic doctrine, but I point it out simply for perspective.

But the fact is that there are conferences and discussions taking place all over the world on the subject of secularization and which have no connection to the Pope and are not “in communion,” so to speak, with the Pope. I hold very little hope for such conferences to achieve their goals.

To illustrate my misgivings, I point to the recent article I posted entitled, “It’s Not the Homosex, Stupid.” If you care to read it and then imagine how much easier it would be to deal with our demographic decline, which is directly related to a falling birthrate caused by a contraceptive and sterile sex mentality, if the participants in a conference were willing to accept the Pope’s teaching on birth control.

But I really didn’t intend to go off quite as far in this direction.

What I found especially interesting—and unique—about the Pope’s remarks in the CNA report was his emphasis on the role of images in the establishment of a secular society.

According to Benedict XVI, secularism spreads its Godless worldview by conditioning people with a "culture of images which imposes contradictory models and impulses, with the effective negation of God". Hence people come to believe "there is no longer any need for God, to think of Him or to return to Him", said the Pope. "Furthermore, the predominant hedonistic and consumer mentality favors, in the faithful as in pastors, a drift towards superficiality and selfishness which damages ecclesial life".

I hope the Bishops especially are listening because it is certain that "as go the Bishops so goes the Church" and "as goes the Church, so goes our society."

The Pope is on to something here. Where did he come up with such a novel insight? I wonder.

[I do remember he said something similar at the beginning of Lent. I remember thinking at the time that this was an extraordinary call from the Pope to fast from TV and other such image-dominating influences in our lives.]

To make a final push for the point of my post, take a look at the very last paragraph of the CNA report and you’ll note the Pope concludes by calling on the Bishops to conduct a tireless mission (is that like a crusade?) to fight secularization.

"Above all", he added in conclusion, "I exhort pastors of the flock of God to a tireless and generous mission to counteract - in the field of dialogue and meeting between cultures, of announcement and testimony of the Gospel - the worrying phenomenon of secularization which weakens man and hinders his innate longing for the entire Truth".

As my own personal quest to join the Pope in his world-saving strategy continues to unfold, I am thinking that the way to get the Bishops moving is to have the Holy Father squeezing on one side and to have the laity squeezing on the other side. How can that be done? How about writing your Bishop, reminding him (in detail if necessary) of what the Pope said and asking him what his plan is to combat secularization. And let that first letter be the first of a regular series of letters.

Too busy to do that? If so, you really have no reason to think anything will change and you can add your own name to the list of those who have given up.

One more thing. You needn’t bother with those other kinds of conferences.

Benedict XVI Broaches Euthanasia with Luxembourg’s PM

2008-03-10T19:51:00.003-02:30

Last Friday Zenit reported on Benedict XVI’s meeting with Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker of

Luxembourg

. The Pope broached the topic of euthanasia which will soon be legalized in that country.

Here’s what was truly disconcerting to read in the article:

Luxembourg, a country of some 480,000 people, 87% of whom are Catholic, is the third country of the European Union to legalize euthanasia.

I will speak my mind clearly on this: The greatest crisis facing our world today, bar none, is the extreme incompetence and dereliction of duty of the successors of the Apostles, the Catholic Bishops.

How a nation with 87% of the population permitted to call themselves Catholic [this could only happen with the permission of Bishops!] could be passing laws so fundamentally opposed to human dignity and to Catholic teaching, is absolutely stupefying! What the majority of these so-called Catholics represent cannot possibly be the Catholic faith. It must be a counterfeit or “pseudo-catholicism” like we have in Canada—only perhaps slightly worse.

God help these Bishops!

Veritatis Splendor For Those Enamoured by the Truth

2008-03-10T19:20:00.006-02:30

Last week I finished my reading of John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor.

Veritatis Splendor is Latin for “The Splendor of Truth.” It basically deals with the Church's role in moral teaching. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it extremely edifying and even exhilarating in certain places.

According to Catholic Insight, when the encyclical was first published in October 1993, it produced howls and a firestorm of protest from Canadian Catholic theologians who scolded the encyclical for having too many condemnations; for not being "open to the people;" for ignoring thirty years of theological development!

It’s definitely not an encyclical for moral relativists!

It's less than about 150 small pages in length so it's not too long to tackle. Go ahead and reward yourself. If you love the whole notion of "truth" this encyclical will do your heart good. Even if you're not Catholic, you'll find this a rewarding read!

It’s Not The Homosex, Stupid

2008-03-09T20:02:00.011-02:30

WARNING: This is commentary and it's lengthy.

With all due respect to savvy Mark Steyn who quipped “It’s the Demography, Stupid,” I wish Steyn would have pushed back for us the curtain of Western society’s bedroom a little further in order to give us a glimpse of the smirking elephant in the closet. Heaven knows we desperately need a paradigm shift in our thinking about sexual “freedom” in the bedroom.

Is it my imagination or do you notice that a great many “conservative” culture warriors—individuals and organizations, Christians and otherwise—have taken to lobbing grenades at those promoting and engaging in homosex, making that the defining strategy, if not obsession, of their war? According to them, among the top threats to our civilization is the “homosexual” agenda.

So let me ask you. What would you think of drivers who ignored red lights but who regularly demonized speeding drivers as the real enemies on the road? Comical? Yes, but consider this. Heterosexuals who rail against homosex, which indeed is a particularly odious variation of sterile sex, are—with strikingly few exceptions—themselves egregiously addicted to their own pleasurable variety of sterile sex. Equally comical, of course, if you consider sterile sex per se to be in a league with dangerous behaviours such as running red lights.

But please don’t jump ship at this point. Hear me out. I know that our post modern society, parroting the relativism of its enlightened pulpiteers, considers this subject settled and entirely off limits. Any suggestion to re-open it is probably constituted an offense in itself—a possible relapse to a prudish repressive sexual ethic of Victorian times.

But we believe in real marriage, the traditional kind, one man and one woman for life, and sex only in that context. That’s the correct standard because it’s God’s standard. A married man and woman can make their own decisions in good conscience about the kind of sex they engage in. It’s nobody else’s business.

Indeed, that’s the claim, but tragically these days it rarely goes beyond a claim. For too many conservatives, yes, and Christians also, who normally relish opportunities to expose politically correct speech, the lack of reasoned debate and evasions of the truth, a remarkable about-turn takes place when the truth concerning sexual disorders gets a little too close to home.

Whoa there! Truth? Disorders? According to who?

Can it be a shock to the reader that throughout two millennia of Western civilization—as well as nearly two millennia of Jewish thought which preceded it—the moral consensus on sterile sex could be summed up like this: All sexual activity, both heterosexual and otherwise, practiced with a view to circumvent procreation constitutes a perversion of God’s order and an abomination.

Here we could take our pick of sources, from the Early Fathers through to Martin Luther, John Calvin, or any other reputable preacher, bible scholar or theologian, right up to the early and mid 1900’s. All—without exception—considered these acts as “a most unnatural wickedness, and a grievous wrong.”

Thus we had the American and Canadian laws which prohibited the sale and distribution of devices that aided in such perversity and which were not rescinded until the 1960’s. Thus we record the witness of some of Western society’s most public figures, such as U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who matter-of-factly labeled the practice of birth control as “the capital sin” against civilization.

But are such ideas peculiarly Western, or even Christian? A surprising number of non-Western cultures throughout history fully squared with Christian teaching on this point. Mahatma Ghandi, a world famous reformer and Hindu, condemned sterile heterosex as a corrupter of morals, a destroyer of marriage and a further degradation of women.

But regardless, truth—the old-fashioned objective kind—is no respecter of cultures and the fallout in our society from a denial of this particular truth has been debilitating. Take note of the Anglicans, the first Christian denomination to break rank with the faith of their fathers on this major doctrine. They formalized the opening of a Pandora’s Box in 1930 by allowing certain exceptions for sterile heterosex and are now being rent asunder by the practice of sterile homosex in the bedrooms of their Bishops. Coincidence?

The extreme break with Christian tradition represented by this acculturated disorder raises serious questions about just how much hostility towards God we have harbored this past generation or two. Some say our rejection of God—played out in this sexual arena—has so cursed our Western society as to account for not only our sex-crazed degeneracy but also family and marriage deformities and breakups, the abortion holocaust, dangerously higher quotas of immigration due to falling birthrates, the growing threat of Islam, the secularization phenomenon with its evil twin Christianophobia and a mounting civilizational self-loathing.

This is a hard pill for many to swallow. But can we admit this much at least: Steyn got it perfectly right when he prophesied the death of Western society due to reproductive sterility. Not for a moment did he suggest that even ten thousand new conferences and/or books on Islam, the tyranny of homosex, the battle for marriage and the family, secular humanism or Christophobia would save us. No, very clearly he stated that it was the question of birthrate which we have refused to address. That alone will cause our society to implode. Steyn put his finger on the precise nature of the problem. Likewise the solution, if it was any closer, might jump up and bite us.

The yearning of many contemporary Christians for a cultural fix through revivalist and “biblical” calls to repentance must also take the birthrate—and sterile heterosex—into account. Though some will contest the point, it must be admitted that any conversion wrought through the preaching of a Whitefield, Finney, et al will not only demand our hearts get right with God but will necessarily reinstitute cultural prohibitions and taboos supporting the age old and exegetically superior biblical interpretation of the sin of Onanism.

The very thought makes many shudder and some to say,

Surely, God, we can instead pay women to have babies, still hold on to our hard earned sexual “freedoms” and save our future. Otherwise, God, this is really going to hurt!

The suggestion that our future hinges on the abandonment of sterile heterosex is utterly disconcerting. It’s too much to grasp—let alone admit—that old fashioned traditional Western wisdom on sexuality was spot on.

But no, it was much more than that. It truly was a civilizational bulwark.

Preachers and pundits would do well then to cease from their various crusades against homosex, Islam, etc. in order to refocus their energies and resources to formulate a new strategy which targets the real enemy. By attacking the ideology and behaviour which is directly fuelling our demographic demise, our odds of making gains in this war are markedly improved.

Another point must be raised. The defense of current phony and lethal sexual “liberties” may be worthy of the label progressive but hardly worthy of the label conservative, and certainly unworthy of the name Christian, at least historically. Such perversions of true liberty were legitimized by the victories of yesteryear’s liberals yet they currently enslave us because they are defended by today’s “conservatives.” Conservatives must seriously examine their own complicity in the sterile sex agenda—which has aided in the destruction of society and has rightly identified them as co-conspirators—and be encouraged to instead stand in defense of established Western wisdom.

Conservatives must decide what it is that they are fighting to conserve. Indeed, what else deserves conservation, other than the collective wisdom and institutions central to Western thought and civilization? Isn’t this precisely why conservatives fight unhesitatingly against abortion, attacks on marriage, disintegration of family, pornography, lowering of morals, etc? Yet why have we not been fighting the one mortal enemy which Western wisdom has explicitly warned—in loudest fashion this past 100 years—would spawn precisely such an epidemic of evils? Sterile heterosex is a beguiling demon of tremendous significance and must be opposed with all our energies and by all possible means.

Instead, we have been trying to beef up our society in order to withstand the intense battering spawned by our own endorsement of sexual license: Educate about the radical homosexual agenda. Expose the dangers and tyranny of secular humanism. Equip Canadians to confront the threat of Islam. Bolster the family and marriage and fight those who attack it.

It’s like trying to engineer more impact resistant cars rather than require drivers to stop at red lights. At this stage, it seems we have even forgotten the red light is there, or perhaps by now we have removed it entirely from the intersection. Is it any wonder the “culture war” is being lost?

So yes, it is the behaviour and specifically it’s sterile sex—of all brands. With great courage, it needs to be identified as such, properly condemned and duly proscribed.

Which again brings us back to Steyn’s famous line and his sober closing:

It's the demography, stupid. And, if they can't muster the will to change course, then "What do you leave behind?" is the only question that matters.

Demographic Winter is the Fruit of Sterile Sex

2008-03-09T19:52:00.001-02:30

Have you discovered MercatorNet.com?

They claim to be “navigating modern complexities” and in my opinion their articles are above average if not exceptional.

One of their current pieces is by Don Feder who covers some Q&A on a sobering new documentary film entitled Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family.

Feder claims the

film aims to wake us up to the fact that the decline of the stable, intact family over the past four decades threatens whole societies with decline and chaos.

But what I find strikingly absent from the discussion is any mention of the only true remedy for falling birthrates: the defeat of the contraceptive mentality. There was no indication in the article that the documentary covered this phenomenon.

The practice of sterile heterosex is a shockingly taboo subject in our society.

And as long as it remains so, the coming chaos is inevitable. Why bother making such a film if the reluctance to discuss the root cause of our demise is insurmountable?

Pro Golfer Faces Charges After Killing Bird With Ball

2008-03-09T17:03:00.001-02:30

Trick question: If a pro golfer faces misdemeanor charges and possible jail time after hitting and killing a hawk with a golf ball, what is a “doctor” likely to face for killing an unborn child by cutting, slashing or suctioning?

Answer: In North America, he may get Abortionist of the Year Award.

Archbishop Prendergast Must Go the Whole Nine Yards

2008-03-09T16:35:00.004-02:30

Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast has caught the attention of the MSM (mainstream media) who, as John Pacheco and other bloggers have pointed out, have once again provided space galore for commentary from the dissenters. LifeSiteNews also reported on the Archbishop’s comments. Also, John did an interesting follow up posting on the subject, found here.

I don’t rate the Archbishop‘s comments as very newsworthy really. His carefully worded statements might have sounded tough but there were no teeth in them at all. In fact, in a very important sense, his words misrepresented the teaching of the Catholic faith, which insists that the Minister of Holy Communion has a solemn obligation to deny the Eucharist to those "Catholics" who continue to obstinately reject Church teachings.

Vote Life, Canada! noted in their Open Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Canada the following tragic fact:

Up until last year, except for a five month break in 38 years, "Catholic" Prime Ministers have managed the affairs of Canada. Every one of them without exception has flouted Catholic teaching on sexuality through their pro-contraception, pro-abortion, pro-sodomy agendas. And every one of them considered themselves good Catholics and regularly presented themselves for Holy Communion. During that 38 year reign of social devastation and spiritual ruin too many Catholic Bishops failed to take steps to deal with this epic scandal. Despite the fierce defiance of Catholic teaching exhibited by the Prime Ministers there is no record of even one single occasion when a Catholic Prime Minister was denied Communion.

I give the Archbishop credit for even bringing up the subject, but unfortunately he has only muddied the waters with his confused equivocation.

More than two years ago, and again, about a year ago, Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto went on record with what seemed to be an even stronger position on the matter of pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians. Again, it was a press release by Vote Life, Canada! which raised disturbing questions about the integrity of Archbishop Collins’ position and his dedication to his duty to defend the Catholic faith and deal with scandal.

Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, Mo. is one of the few Bishops in North America who gives us a clear, unequivocal demonstration of what is demanded of a Catholic Bishop in these circumstances. He has ruffled many feathers by reaffirming the teaching of then Cardinal Ratzinger in Worthiness to Receive Holy Communion which instructs that a pastor is to first meet with his parishioner when such questions arise, “instructing him about the Church’s teaching, informing him that he is not to present himself for Holy Communion until he brings to an end the objective situation of sin, and warning him that he will otherwise be denied the Eucharist.”

So to summarize, Archbishop Prendergast must take this matter to the next level, i.e. the level of complete adherence to Catholic teaching, in order to win any respect for his recent statements or to accomplish any desperately needed change regarding the scandal of pro-abortion “Catholic” politicians in Canada.

If you’re in the mood for more browsing on the subject, follow these links or go to the Vote Life Canada! blog and do a blog search for “Archbishop Burke.”

Archbishop Burke: public figures must receive Holy Communion worthily

A Primer on Canon 915

Association of 600 Priests and Deacons Support Archbishop Burke in His Denial of Holy Communion to Renegade Catholic Politicians

Archbishop Burke Right to Deny Communion to Giuliani

In re the Eucharist: Cdl. McCarrick vs. Abp. Burke

Bishop preaches tough Communion rule

Proper Role of Papal Discipline in Church Reform

2008-03-09T14:55:00.005-02:30

I referred the reader just two days ago to Stefan Jetchick’s recent posting on The King and the Pope. The next day I learned that Catholic Culture has another article published on Church Discipline. Dr. Mirus says:

Yes, I've finally done it. A month or so after writing a blog entry on why popes don't discipline, I've followed up on my promise to address the proper role of papal discipline in Church reform. There's not much I can do about this, of course, but if you believe—respectfully and on balance—that more discipline would be better, you've got a friend. See my most comprehensive treatment yet: The Pope, Reform and Discipline.

As usual, I think the Dr. has offered a fair and balanced assessment.

Una Voce, Diocese of Lafayette, Indiana

2008-03-07T17:44:00.004-03:30

Are you familiar with this branch of Una Voce? I thought the website to be a well organized effort. Some good postings. Here’s one, for example, on The Good Friday Prayer and another on Archbishop Raymond Burke’s sanctions against Reverend Marek Bozek, which has been coming for quite some time.

On that same story there's more here from Archbishop Burke’s diocesan website:
Click here for questions and answers about the status of Rev. Marek Bozek.

Thousands Make Their Way to St. Joseph's Oratory

2008-03-07T17:40:00.003-03:30

I found this press release offensive. There's really nothing wrong with it as such but, honestly, I have a real problem with Bishop Gilles Lussier, of the diocese of Joliette. Should a Bishop stand by and watch an entire nation be scandalized and Catholics everywhere disgraced?

Isn't this where the Pope is supposed to come in?

US Secret Service Looking Out For Benedict XVI

2008-03-07T17:38:00.002-03:30

I’m very glad to see that the US Secret Service is having nothing to do with political correctness.

I can’t quite wrap my mind around the concept that a dagger could be the de facto symbol of a religious faith.

The Anglican Appeal to Catholic Order

2008-03-07T17:33:00.003-03:30

There’s some really crazy stuff going on in the Anglican community. It strained my imagination last week to hear that Bishop Michael Ingham was threatening Dr. J.I. Packer with suspension.

And here’s a theologian’s take on another aspect of the ridiculous antics of the bishops of Anglican Church in Canada (ACiC). He makes a good point—and he's Baptist.

The Anglican Appeal to Catholic Order

The King and The Pope

2008-03-07T17:30:00.002-03:30

Stefan has his latest entry posted to Inquisition.ca entitled The King And The Pope. This website is definitely worth perusing. Notice he's on my links list, short as it is.

In Confession We Experience the Joy of God’s Forgiveness

2008-03-07T17:23:00.006-03:30

Pastors, and especially confessors, must, said the Holy Father, "emphasize the close link between the Sacrament of Penance and an existence decisively oriented to conversion.”

Wonderfully expressed. Truly Catholic. Benedict XVI is impressive. Because he's a man he's not perfect—but, make no mistake, there's none better.

The Holy Father shared some great wisdom as well today on the historical sciences:
Historical Sciences are of Great Interest for Church Life
This in turn leads to "a society which, heedless of its own past and hence lacking criteria acquired through experience, is no longer capable of harmonious coexistence or joint commitment in realizing future aims. Such a society is particularly vulnerable to ideological manipulation.

Catholic Hospital Offers Breast Implants to "Transsexual" Patient

2008-03-07T17:19:00.001-03:30

Seton Medical Center has announced that it will allow "transsexuals" to receive breast implants after previously refusing to perform such surgeries, due to its Catholic identity.

Where else but San Francisco? Same place where the Bishop freely gave the Body and Blood of Jesus to members of the sodomy loving “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence?” Ugh!

Receiving Jesus On Your Knees And On Your Tongue

2008-03-06T13:57:00.002-03:30

This morning I received an email message from a fellow Catholic pointing to an online video interview with the Auxiliary Bishop of Karaganda, Athanasius Schneider, in Kazakhstan. The Bishop sharply criticizes the practice of communion in the hand. He says, "As a bishop I cannot be silent".

For those interested, there’s also an article appearing on Catholic Culture by the same Bishop, entitled "Cum Amore Ac Timore" which translated means “With Love and Fear.” The article, as Catholic Culture notes, “provides a compelling argument for receiving the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling (a predominant custom by the sixth century). Bishop Schneider's thesis is supported at the highest levels, according to Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, secretary to the Holy See's Congregation for Divine Worship, who wrote the foreword for Schneider's book, Dominus Est (Vatican Press)."

While you’re at it, Dr. Mirus at Catholic Culture blog has posted two helpful commentaries in the last couple of days which describe what’s happening in our rapidly collapsing society. Take a look first at Ideology, Totalitarianism, and the Public Schools and the follow-up post today entitled Secularism, Acculturation and Creeping Totalitarianism.

This Blog Will Now Be “Home Base” Once Again

2008-02-17T13:57:00.008-03:30

Welcome.

Today I notified all devoted supporters of the pro-life campaign Vote Life, Canada! that its work has been suspended, effective immediately, due to a serious lack of funding. I also posted a message to the Vote Life, Canada! blogspot announcing this sad moment.

I advised my closest supporters and friends that those who may have an interest in keeping in contact or staying informed of my future activities are invited to visit this personal blog.

We shall see where God leads from here. I would greatly appreciate the aid of your prayers as I seek employment and face the major changes which lie ahead.

On Earth Peace to Men of Good Will

2006-12-16T14:18:00.000-03:30

A useful form of the word "Xmas" based on the Chi Rho Christogram for all those Christians so animated by their Christian identity that they wish to make a practical faith statement to the world in their use of the word "Christmas."

The oft used form "Xmas" simply makes matters worse.

Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace to men of good will.
Luke 2:14

Message to the Conservative Party of Canada

2006-11-26T23:58:00.001-03:30

LET CANDIDATES ANSWER ABORTION QUESTIONNAIRES!!!

Hey, and why not all questionnaires for that matter!

According to LifeSiteNews.com the Conservative Party will not allow candidates to answer pro-life questionnaires.

Mr. Harper, don’t we believe in transparency, or do we have something to hide?

Does the Conservative Party of Canada have something to hide? Can our elected representatives not be permitted or trusted to speak out on issues which concern life and death for thousands and thousands of our fellow Canadians? Abortion takes the lives of over 100,000 innocent human beings each year in Canada.

Is this not therefore the gravest injustice taking place in our land every day? Don’t the people who elected these candidates deserve a clear response on a question of such tragic proportions?

Along with Big Blue Wave, I call upon all Canadians to let the Conservative Party of Canada know that this matter is a great distress to you.

Who is a representative? Is it not someone who represents us; someone who embodies our wishes, our values, our hopes and our dreams? How are we to arrive at a useful (and genuine) form of democratic, representative government if the leader(s) of a party wishes to obscure or distort the will of large segments of society by taping shut the mouths of those who represent those segments?

Isn’t this really the same kind of thing the Liberals did recently in order to bring same sex marriage into law? Granted it may not be exactly the same formula but the essence of the offense is the same: prevent representatives from representing their districts at a point when it is crucial to the future of our country for their voices to be understood and heard.

FELLOW BLOGGERS: If you agree with this message to the Conservative Party, please blog a similar post.

Baptists, Birth Control and Talk Radio

2006-11-15T03:26:00.001-03:30

Albert Mohler is a Baptist. In fact he’s currently the president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary-the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world.

Dr. Mohler came to my attention over a year ago when I discovered that he had written an article challenging evangelicals (and Baptists) to engage in a good debate and discussion centered on the moral issue of contraception. In fact he stated that an increasing number of Protestants were raising concerns about the relative silence of their churches on this issue.

About the same time he opined himself that deliberate childlessness among Christian couples is "moral rebellion" and "an absolute revolt against God's design."

Sadly, Dr. Mohler was right when he also said: “Thus, in an ironic turn, American evangelicals are rethinking birth control even as a majority of the nation's Roman Catholics indicate a rejection of their Church's teaching.”

It seems to me that it is somewhat rare today to find Christian leaders who are able to balance faith and reason in the context of their own cultures. Dr. Mohler hosts a daily radio talk show, as well as a website and blog and overall seems to have achieved just such a balance.

He’ll certainly challenge you to think your way through your Christian walk. One of Dr. Mohler’s recent talk shows dealt with the contraceptive culture. It’s certainly worth a listen.

To take other examples of Albert Mohler’s claim that Baptists and Evangelicals are aligning themselves in greater numbers to traditional (and scriptural) Christian teaching on birth control, check out this fundamental Baptist site.

Shades of Dr. John R. Rice!!!

This pastor is dead serious in his preaching against reproductive “innovations” such as contraception and in vitro fertilization.

These are audio files of his Sunday morning messages and I believe the man deserves credit for doing his homework. If you'd like to, you can download the mp3 files from this page and listen to them when you get the time. These messages will also challenge you to think.

Warning: Fundamental Baptists seem to have an entirely offensive manner of constantly castigating the Catholic Church and so there may be some negative references in these messages, but try to overlook that. After all, whether the preacher acknowledges it or not, he’s preaching the pure Catholic faith in these two sermons!

Another very illuminating article, Evangelical Group's Motto: Breed to Succeed that I stumbled upon just today takes the reader through a vast array of insights on the growing opposition by certain groups of Christians to contraception and how they see it’s tragic effects on our present day society. Excellent reading here too, so be sure to take advantage of this helpful summary.

All in all, fruitful endeavours...and long overdue!

Repairing Scandal the Catholic Way

2006-11-13T01:26:00.001-03:30

How can the current Church scandal (of homosexuality and pedophilia) be properly and effectively dealt with?

Dr. Jeffrey Mirus, a leader in Catholic education and in advancing the Catholic Faith through CatholicCulture.org recently offered his contribution.

It’s worth a read. He makes some very helpful points.

Best of all, it’s such a short read and IMHO the good Dr. gets right to the heart of the matter!

A forthright return to the basics of the hierarchical system is the only way. The bishops must eliminate bureaucracy, strip away administrative habits that distract them from essentials, and eliminate whatever detracts from their direct impact on the quality and quantity of their priests. They must first reignite their own spiritual fire and then go out and challenge young men throughout their dioceses to join them in their quest for souls. They must demand high standards of priestly training and priestly virtue, and then trust these same priests to form good parishes as well as good diocesan and parish schools.

Why Confess Sins to Anyone Besides God?

2006-11-13T00:57:00.001-03:30

The Pope gave some clues earlier this week as he met with the Bishops of Switzerland who are in the Vatican for their five-yearly visit.

He asked priests “to rigorously observe the Church's norms on the sacrament of penance, in particular, those affecting general absolution.” He spoke of "the crisis the sacrament of reconciliation is going through" and urged the prelates "to relaunch in your dioceses a penitential pastoral program which encourages individual confession."

Benedict XVI said: "Exhort the faithful to frequent the sacrament of penance regularly, which enables one to discover the gift of God's mercy and pushes one to be merciful as he is toward others."

Confession "helps us to form our conscience, to fight against our evil inclinations, to allow ourselves to be healed by Christ, to progress in the life of the Spirit," the Holy Father said quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Indeed, individual confessions are a rare phenomenon in the lives of many Catholics today. If in fact confession helps in the areas mentioned by Benedict XVI, then no doubt neglect of this sacrament accounts for much of the weak and tragic spirituality of today.

Perhaps what is needed is a fresh look at the practice of “confession.”

Protestants have a long list of objections to Catholic teaching regarding confession.

The short (and scriptural) version on why Catholics confess their sins to a priest.

A very brief guide for the Catholic on the practice of confession is here.

We keep this method that a penitent relates certain sins that bother him the most. Even if thousands and thousands of worlds belonged to me, I would lose everything rather than give up the smallest part of confession in the church. Yes, rather would I accept the Papal tyranny on Fasts, Celebrations, Vestments, Cities, Plates, and Hats and whatever I could bear without destruction of the faith than that confession should be taken from the Christians.

Martin Luther 1533 “Warning to Certain People in Frankfurt am Main”
WA 30III:566, 29-30 and 569, 6-11.

The Moral and Sexual Shape of The Buster Generation

2006-11-07T20:29:00.001-03:30

Ever wonder whether young people today (Christians included!) care about traditional Christianity? Ever wonder what drives their moral and sexual behaviors and attitudes? For all the “new” rules of tolerance, compassion and kindness, does it promote more civility, respect, or patience among the Busters? What percentage of Busters hold to the concept of “absolute truth” in relation to their parents’ generation? What’s behind the skepticism of the Busters? How can churches and church leaders connect with Busters to help them live more morally healthy and fulfilled lives?

I'm a Boomer.

My daughter and son-in law are Busters.

Sometimes I struggle to understand the way they think and why. Today I had an extended conversation with my son-in-law about capital punishment and what Christians today think of it.

Some hard facts...some troubling realities...began to surface. I had to pray for insight and understanding.

Then I stumbled upon a new study just released by the Barna group. Thank you Lord.

It's rather startling and eye opening. You’ve probably heard bits and pieces of this kind of research before but now it’s in an easily digestible and conceptual framework.

Here are what I consider to be interesting highlights:

“Busters” are those born between the years of 1965 and 1983. Currently, Busters are ages 23 through 41.

In none of the 32 facets of lifestyle or attitude studied were Busters more likely to possess a conventional moral position when compared with the older crowd of “pre-Busters.”

Busters defy sexual convention in their attitudes, for example,

More than two-thirds said that cohabitation and sexual fantasies are morally acceptable behaviors, compared with half of older adults.
Almost half of Busters believed that sexual relationships between people of the same sex are acceptable, compared with one-quarter of older adults.
Busters were more likely than older adults to say that in the past month they had used illegal drugs and had gotten drunk.

Less civility, respect, and patience show up in the interaction which Busters have with others. Busters were twice as likely as their parents’ generation to use profanity in public, to say mean things about others behind their back, to do something to get back at someone who hurt or offended them, to take something that didn’t belong to them, etc. etc.

Young adults were significantly more likely to accept gambling, profanity, intoxication, and illegal drug use as morally acceptable behaviors.

Nearly half of all pre-Busters said they view moral truth as absolute, but only three out of 10 Busters embraced the concept of absolute truth.

Nearly half of Busters said that ethics and morals are based on “what is right for the person,” compared with just one-quarter of pre-Busters.

On eight of the 16 behaviors, the profile of born again Busters was virtually identical to that of non-born again Busters.

Born again Busters were much less likely to act in a “moral” manner than were born again adults over 40.

The lifestyles of young and old were indistinguishable in a few ways. Out of the 16 areas of moral behavior, adults across the generations were equally likely to have given someone “the finger” while driving, to smoke, to buy a lottery ticket, and to place a bet or gamble.

Busters’ perspectives were no different from that of their elders on three issues: the acceptability of abortion, allowing the “f-word” on broadcast television, and deeming divorce not to be a sin.

The research director’s summary:

The moral profile of today’s young adult is more likely to resemble that of their peer group than it is to take shape around the tenets of a person’s faith. This research paints a compelling picture that moral values are shifting very quickly and significantly within the Christian community.

Busters have a more disconnected, individualized, less trusting spin on morality. They are trying to create a sense of identity because they feel that shaping influences such as family, church, and community have failed them.

The Buster’s mindset of sexual entitlement translates into increased appetites for pornography, unfiltered acceptance of sexual themes and content in media, and continued dissolution of marriages due to infidelity.

Churches must help Busters grasp sexuality from a biblical perspective in ways that do not demean people’s personal struggles in the blunt and permissive culture we inhabit.

Abortion: Just Another Issue?

2006-11-06T16:48:00.001-03:30

A chicken and a pig were walking down the street one day and noticed some poor children who looked as if they hadn't eaten anything for days. Moved with compassion, the chicken said to the pig, "I have an idea! Let's give those children a nice breakfast of ham and eggs." The pig contemplated the chicken's suggestion and said, 'Well, for you, that would involve a small sacrifice; but for me, it would involve total commitment!"

There’s gambling and pornography. There’s immigration and there’s women’s rights. There’s the fishery and there’s poverty.

And then there’s abortion.

Is it just another issue among many? Consider this question. Under what conceivable standard could you lump the killing of innocent children with the issue of gambling? Or with the fishery? Or with poverty? If you walked out onto the street and saw a young child being attacked, perhaps killed, how many options do you have? Is it simply another “issue” which you can take or leave, about which you can feel passionate or not depending on your experience, background or special interests?

Is it really just one more of many social issues?

Haven’t you heard it said, “You’ve got your issue, your agenda and I’ve got mine. We all bring our issues to the table. Yours is abortion, mine is pornography.”

Let’s put this in perspective. As long as we view abortion as “just another issue,” it is similar to the pig’s situation, and it will mean total commitment for the unborn. They will continue to pay for the “issue” with their lives while special interest issues, even though deeply felt as in the case of the chicken, will simply demand some degree of sacrifice.

The question really is: How deep is the spiritual darkness in our land when we as Christians fail to see abortion as the life and death struggle of a fellow human being created in the image of God?

In Canada and America, the darkness can deepen or recede on election day.

How will you vote?

Christ Has Deprived Death of Its Venom Says Pope

2006-11-06T00:31:00.001-03:30

In my previous posting today, I spoke of the need to be “born again.”

I liked what Pope Benedict had to say about death today in St. Peter’s Square. It fits well.

To be “born again” is to share in the victory over death which Christ has won for us.

Enjoy!

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Today Benedict XVI addressed several thousand people gathered in St. Peter's Square.

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

During these days that follow the liturgical commemoration of the dead, many parishes celebrate the octave of the dead, an appropriate occasion to remember our loved ones in prayer and to meditate on the reality of death, which the "civilization of comfort" often tries to remove from people's conscientiousness, immersed in the concerns of daily life.

To die, in fact, is part of life and not only of its end, but, if we pay attention, of every instant. Despite all the distractions, the loss of a loved one makes us discover the "problem," making us feel death as a radically hostile presence contrary to our natural vocation to life and happiness.

Jesus revolutionized the meaning of death. He did so with his teaching, above all by facing death himself. "Dying he destroyed death," says the liturgy of the Easter season. "With the Spirit that could not die, Christ defeated death that was killing man," wrote a Father of the Church (Melito of Sardis, "On Easter," 66). In this way, the Son of God wished to share our human condition to the end, to open it to hope. Ultimately, he was born to be able to die and in this way to free us from the slavery of death. The Letter to the Hebrews says: "that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone" (2:9).

Since then, death is no longer the same: It has been deprived, so to speak, of its "venom." The love of God, acting in Jesus, has given new meaning to the whole of man's existence and in this way, has also transformed death. If in Christ human life is a departure "from this world to the Father" (John 13:1), the hour of death is the moment in which this departure takes places in a concrete and definite way.

Those who commit themselves to live like him are freed from the fear of death, no longer showing the sarcastic smile of an enemy but offering the friendly face of a "sister," as St. Francis wrote in the "Canticle of Creatures." In this way, God can also be blessed for it: "Praise be to you, my Lord, for our Sister Bodily Death." We must not fear the death of the body, faith reminds us, as it is a dream from which we will awake one day.

The authentic death, which one must fear, is that of the soul, called by the Book of Revelation "second death" (cf. 20:14-15; 21:8). In fact, he who dies in mortal sin, without repentance, locked in prideful rejection of God's love, excludes himself from the Kingdom of life.

Through the intercession of Mary Most Holy and of St. Joseph, let us pray to the Lord for the grace to prepare serenely to depart from this world, when he wills to call us, with the hope of being able to be with him eternally, in the company of the saints and of our deceased loved ones.

[Source]

Are Catholics “Born Again?”

2006-11-05T22:38:00.001-03:30

What does it mean to be “born again” and how important is it?

First of all, it’s PLENTY important. Jesus said,

“"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

That means it’s plenty important. You can’t get into heaven without it.

But what does it mean?

From Catholic Answers, “Is Baptism Merely a Symbol?” By Kenneth J. Howell

OBJECTOR: I heard the most absurd thing the other day—a Catholic said baptism is necessary for salvation. That certainly can’t be true, because the Bible says in Acts 4:12 that Jesus is the only "name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

CATHOLIC: Baptism is necessary for salvation because 1 Peter 3:21 also says "baptism . . . now saves you." Jesus as the only Savior uses the waters of baptism to save people from their sins. Further, our Lord once said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16).

OBJECTOR: But that’s impossible. Baptism is a symbol of our faith in Christ. It is not the Savior himself. The Catholic doctrine confuses the symbol and the reality.

CATHOLIC: The Catholic doctrine of baptism unites the symbol and the reality. It is because of the union of the symbol—water—with the reality—the Holy Spirit—that the apostle Peter can say, "baptism now saves you." It is the same idea as Jesus said in John 3:5, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Being born of the water and the Spirit is an explanation of what he says in verse 3, "Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

OBJECTOR: But surely Jesus is not speaking here of baptism. Either he is speaking metaphorically or he is referring to the "water" that comes out during natural birth. He is saying that a person must be born twice: once naturally and once spiritually.

CATHOLIC: So you would agree that Jesus meant a spiritual birth, or regeneration, when he spoke of "being born of the Spirit"?

OBJECTOR: Yes, when he spoke of "being born again," he used the Greek word anothen, which means both again and from above. He intended to draw on the systematic ambiguity of the word to show that a supernatural birth is involved in being born again.

CATHOLIC: I agree. But tell me: When does a person have this experience of "being born again" or "being born from above"?

[Read the rest of the dialogue here.]

And so it goes. The Protestant challenges the Catholic view of being “born again.”

But it is important stuff. In fact, the most important kind of stuff.

If you’re ready to deepen your understanding [perhaps even discover how to save your soul!], I offer the following:

An evangelical-friendly discussion of questions surrounding the “born again” issue.

A more scholarly reply [but engaging] from a Catholic apologist.

To answer the question Are Catholics ‘born again?’ Steve Ray, a well known Catholic convert, offers a downloadable [Word document] short tale of “Andy.”

According to the Bible, not everyone makes it to heaven.

My aim is to enter heaven. I’d like to see you there too. Jesus has a plan. If I can help you find your way, please email me.

Anti Catholic Bias and Pope Pius XII

2006-11-05T00:09:00.001-03:30

Anti-Catholic bias is a particularly stubborn and vile creature.

There’s no question that in my early Christian years I was influenced significantly in a calculated manner by it, yet with my permission because, well…simply because I wasn’t Catholic. And everyone knew you couldn’t be FOR the Catholics. We just knew we weren’t on the same side and never the twain would meet.

That’s a hard mindset to beat.

But it got worse when I joined the fundamental Baptists. I was forthrightly and adamantly informed that the Catholic faith was entirely corrupt, antagonistic to God and to the Gospel, and was the precursor to the Antichrist. All Catholics were lost and needed to abandon their cult in order to find Christ and salvation.

Only by a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit is it possible to see past all that poison and the corruption that actually does exist in the lives of many Catholics (including clergy) and to see the Church as the authoritative voice of Christ in this world. I thank God for His mercy and patience in this process and for the remarkable ways in which He was able to accomplish such a work.

******************

I’ve been meaning to blog about Pope Pius XII and the criticism which has been leveled against him most recently over his alleged complicity in the Nazi holocaust. Just last week I was alerted to a “new discovery about Pope Pius XII [which] shows the recent slander and dishonest charges against him are fallacious and should be condemned.”

The story of "Be Proud to be a Jew" refutes the spin of modern "historians' and "scholars" who have misinformed the public about the position of Pope Pius XII in relation to the Nazis and the Jews.

I just have not had the opportunity to include the story in a blog entry on this subject.

Until now.

Today I received an email from a well meaning fundamentalist Baptist whose emails occasionally come my way. The following was the entire content of that email.

Question: Are you aware of the letter dated June 22, 1943 from Pope Pius XII to President Roosevelt recently discovered in the U.S. Archives? It very clearly expresses the Pope's opposition to allowing the Jews to establish a homeland in Palestine. If you are aware of it, do you have any comments?

Answer: Yes, the discovery and contents of the letter have been fairly widely reported, though I don't believe the letter has received the attention it deserves. For forty years there has been a controversy surrounding Pius XII. He has been faulted for his failure to speak out publicly in opposition to the Holocaust, which he surely knew was in process. Roman Catholic apologists have attempted to explain this away and pointed to his help in hiding many Jews in Italy from the Nazis. It has also been argued that had he spoken out publicly it would only have inflamed Hitler and made matters worse, in spite of the fact that it couldn't have been worse than it was. (We dealt in depth with this subject in July 1993, July 1994, and September 1998.)

It was actually Sister Pascalina (the nun who was his housekeeper and close associate and confidante for many years) who introduced the Pope to the idea of savingJews and who conceived and carried out the clever and secretive way in which this was accomplished. Her biographer reports that she "risked everything for the Jews...and issued hundreds of papal identity cards...so [that Jews] could pass as Christians through Nazi lines for safety in the Vatican." This fact, however, is never mentioned by those praising the Pope for saving Jews.

This June 22, 1943 letter is devastating for those who have defended the Pope. In part this is what it said: "It is true that at one time Palestine was inhabited by the Hebrew Race, but there is no axiom in history [what about God's Word!] to substantiate the necessity of a people returning to a country they left nineteen centuries before. If a 'Hebrew Home' is desired, it would not be too difficult to find a more fitting territory than Palestine. With an increase in the Jewish population there, grave, new international problems would arise." His language and intent is clear.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, calls the letter "an indictment of Pius XII, because it basically says that when the Pope wanted a point of view expressed about how he clearly felt, he said it clearly. Where is a similar letter to Adolf Hitler, telling Hitler that the Vatican finds his policies against the Jews repugnant? But at the height of the Holocaust, the Vatican knew how to oppose the State of Israel."

Furthermore, we have a copy of Pius XII's first letter to Hitler upon becoming pope. In part it said, "To the Illustrious Herr Adolf Hitler, Führer and Chancellor of the German Reich! We recall with great pleasure the many years we spent in Germany as Apostolic Nuncio, when we did all in our power to establish harmonious relations between Church and State. Now...how much more ardently do we pray to reach that goal...." Remember, this was 1939 and Hitler's evil had been exposed to the world.

As the war neared its end, the Pope pleaded with the Allied Forces to deal leniently with both Hitler and Mussolini. Both were Catholics to their death. Pius XII never excommunicated either of these master criminals in spite of their unspeakable evils. Pius XII himself merely reflected centuries of anti-Semitism on the part of his predecessor popes and Church involving the most vicious persecution and death of multitudes of Jews.

Commenting upon the discovery of this letter, Rabbi David Rosen, head of the Israel office of the Anti-Defamation League, remarked, "It has been well known for a long time of the shameful policy the Holy See maintained during that period, and this is just one [more] confirmation of that fact."

In fact, we are dealing with more than anti-Semitism. In this letter, the Pope placed himself clearly in opposition to God who throughout the entire Old Testament repeatedly promised the land of Israel to His chosen people in perpetuity. There are so many prophecies promising that God would bring the Jews He had scattered all over the world back to their promised land in the last days and that the Messiah would return to reign over them on David's throne in Jerusalem (and over the world), that the popes (who claim to be Christ's vicars) cannot be excused on the grounds of ignorance. They have, in fact, wilfully opposed the plain teaching of Scripture concerning Israel. Therefore, it is not surprising that Roman Catholicism stands in such opposition to the biblical teaching on salvation.

This is a classic case of virulent anti-Catholic bias; something becoming of especially fundamental Baptists and Seventh Day Adventists. The last sentence was so "original" and an overwhelming "coup de grace" don't you think? As if to say further "See. This is what we always said about Catholics. And this only adds more proof!"

Pleeeease!

What did I do? I simply replied to his email,

I suppose if one hates the Catholic Church as the epitome of all that is evil and opposed to God, it really doesn't matter whether you attempt an objective assessment. Sad, and so truly un-Christian.

And then for his perusal I included the full contents of a book review by Sir Martin Gilbert. Gilbert is Winston Churchill’s official biographer and the author of ten books on the Holocaust. He reviews Jewish Rabbi David G. Dalin’s book The Myth of Hitler's Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued Jews From the Nazis

Gilbert clears the air. Eye opening.

For those ready to have their eyes opened.

[More insight here and here.]

The Pope on Sainthood and Intimacy With Jesus

2006-11-04T19:11:00.001-03:30

Unless you subscribe to Vatican Information Service, you might have missed Pope Benedict’s recent sermon on saintliness which was given on November 1, All Saints Day.

If you are Protestant [maybe even Catholic], you might think that Catholics believe the only ones who are saints are those who have made it to heaven.

Not so.

The pope made it clear that "saints are not an exclusive caste of the chosen few” but include the “baptized from every age and nation who have sought to enact divine will with love and faithfulness."

Benedict XVI dispelled the myth that sainthood is dependent on extraordinary actions or charisms. “What is above all necessary is to listen to Jesus and then to follow Him without losing heart in the face of difficulties."

In conclusion, the Pope left the faithful with an exciting possibility: “the greater our intimacy with Jesus, and the more united to Him we are, the more we enter into the mystery of divine sanctity.”

Of course the entire message was contained in a freshly wrapped reminder to contemplate the shining example of the saints.

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The authentic Catholic message is Intimate Friendship With Jesus.

Always has been. Always will be.

Good Catholics and Bad Catholics: Mortal Sin

2006-11-04T01:30:00.001-03:30

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sin is "an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law." CCC#1849

Furthermore, the Church makes a distinction between two types of sins. Venial sins are sins of a less grave nature which do not cut us off from Christ. However, venial sin does weaken grace in the soul and damages our relationship with God. A person who frequently indulges in venial sin is very likely to collapse into mortal sin if they persist in their evil ways.

The most serious and grave sins are referred to as mortal sins. Mortal sins destroy the grace of God in the heart of the sinner. By their very grave nature, a mortal sin cuts off our relationship with God and turns man away from his creator. Mortal sins cannot be done "accidentally." More here and here.
Some thoughts from a former Protestant here.

A person who commits a mortal sin is one who knows that their sin is wrong, but still deliberately commits the sin anyway. This means that mortal sins are "premeditated" by the sinner and thus are truly a rejection of God’s law and love. A person who dies in mortal sin cannot enter the kingdom of heaven and is doomed to eternal suffering in hell. For an extensive listing of mortal sins read this.

It is essential to spiritual health and safety that Catholics confess sins on a regular basis, and without delay in cases of mortal sin. The person who repents of their sin, intends to live a new life of grace, and receives the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be forgiven of all their sins. Because Jesus Christ paid for the price of human sin by dying on the cross for the redemption of humanity, our sins can be forgiven. Jesus Christ, true man and true God, was the perfect sacrifice for human sin and as a result saved those who are baptized, repent and believe in him.

Considering

1. what the Catholic Church teaches about mortal sin, and

2. that the Church’s teaching on faith and morals is infallible,

I believe I am right then to say that Catholics who deny the truth or reality of mortal sin, as taught by the Catholic Church, and who live in mortal sin, will not make it to heaven. Regardless of whether they are deemed to be good Catholics by attendance at Mass on Sundays, or by regular reception of the Eucharist, or by any other standard, they are deceived and lost.

Sad to say there is a vast multitude of Catholics in Canada and the U.S. who deny and demean Catholic teaching by their criticism and daily lives. These people and the church leaders they emulate have created a counterfeit Catholicism that is worthy of only scorn and disdain by sincere Catholics and by other orthodox Christian believers.

It should also be obvious that Catholic priests and bishops who would foster or encourage such disobedience and deception will themselves be doubly guilty and likewise be shut out of heaven. I hasten to add of course that God alone is able to make such judgments. I am simply drawing what are obvious conclusions to Catholic teaching.

To illustrate what I am saying, consider the almost universal practice in our society of contraception.

Catholic teaching has been constant and extremely clear: contraception is fatal to the faith and to eternal life.

Yet Catholics contracept at probably the same rate as non-Catholic Christians and many priests and bishops are silent (if not outrightly defiant to Church teaching) in speaking on the subject. [The leaders of evangelical Christians have been seriously neglectful as well in teaching their flocks of the history and dangers of the contraceptive mentality. More here.]

If mortal sin cuts one off from God and denies that person entrance to heaven and if contraception is a mortal sin, why aren’t priests and bishops (and even other Christian leaders) warning constantly of the danger to the souls of their people?

How many possible answers can there be? Either for some (unacceptable) reason these leaders deny/disregard the teaching or they are apathetic to the grave danger posed to their flocks. Either way, it may be enough to send them to a Christless eternity.

If I am wrong on any of this I am ready to be corrected.

Missouri Stem Cell Amendment and Big Business

2006-11-04T00:36:00.002-03:30

Recently I blogged on the controversy surrounding Michael J. Fox, Embryonic Stem Cell Research and the Missouri Stem Cell amendment. My goal was to help clarify the issue and to point out that ESCR ALWAYS takes the life of an innocent human being in the earliest stages of development and is particularly heinous because all such research aims from the very beginning to destroy the embryo.

I did point out clearly that ESCR has produced no successful medical therapies in humans yet those who promote ESCR make bold (and misleading) claims that it is immensely promising and that it has the potential to relieve or cure dozens, even hundreds, of serious human illnesses such as cancer, Parkinson's and diabetes.

What I did not mention was the extreme degree of lobbying that takes place by special business interests who would love to take advantage of the enormous sums of venture capital that would flow once these sorts of amendments are passed into law.

Fox News is now reporting on a billionaire couple whose firm invests significantly in the healthcare sector and who is pumping a whopping $29 million into advertising in order to win votes for the Missouri amendment. Records indicate that this couple has also donated significantly to lawmakers sympathetic to such research and they run an Institute that has made a $300 million expansion project contingent on Amendment 2 passing.

The MSM hype about ESCR is really all about one thing…big business influence and the Almighty Dollar. Who cares how many “invisible” human beings in embryo form get killed?

God help us to speak up for life.

h/t Michelle Malkin

Anglican Archbishop to Meet Benedict XVI

2006-11-03T17:58:00.001-03:30

This is a good thing...maybe some much needed perspective will rub off on the Anglican chief.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world's Anglicans, will make his first official visit to Pope Benedict at the Vatican on 23 November.

The timing is significant because this year marks the 40th anniversary of the historic meeting between his predecessor, Archbishop Michael Ramsey, and Pope Paul VI in 1966.

That was the first formal meeting between the heads of the two churches since England's King Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 16th Century.In the past 10 years, relations between the two Churches have been strained over the issue of women priests and homosexual bishops.

The blessing of same-sex unions in Canada's Anglican Church and moves to ordain women bishops in the Church of England are two issues that are driving Anglicans and Catholics further apart after decades of optimistic dialogue.