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Friday, April 28, 2017

Always Read with your Critical Thinking Scan in the On Position!

Just because a man wears a roman collar
doesn't mean he's telling the truth.
I picked up a book of Easter season daily readings written in 1980 and I'd say it shows all the
evidence of post Vatican II...mmm...for want of a better word...confusion. Today, for Friday of the 2nd week of Easter I read this:
...we have the assurance -- if a work is of God, it cannot be destroyed. To fight it is to fight against God....And as we look about us at people who have survived heroic tests of endurance or at institutions that have continued to exist over the centuries, we ought to be convinced that such expressions are godly. Otherwise, they would have died a long time ago. There are many such institutions which deserve much more respect than we often give them. They must have proven not only that they are from  God but also that their motivation is divinely inspired.
My antennae went up. Let's see. The Protestant revolution is over 500 years old. Was it "divinely inspired?" Islam is much older still. Was the Battle of Lepanto that prevented the Turks from overrunning Europe a war between two "divinely inspired institutions?" The Mormon Church is over two centuries old. Was it "divinely inspired?" Remember Christ's parable about the tares and wheat. Good and evil will co-exist until the end. Clearly God does not inspire the tares to thrive; but, because of free will, He allows them.

I didn't know anything about Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P. when I started the book. As soon as I read this nonsense I did a search. Stuhlmueller, who died in 1994, was a professor with the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago, no bastion of orthodoxy. He was also affiliated with the Catholic Biblical Association of America whose website gets a big red stoplight from Catholic Culture. He supported the women's ordination movement and other post Vatican II dissent groups and was on the steering committee of the first Women's Ordination Conference. Many articles posted on the womenpriest.org website carry his byline.

I can't say I'm surprised. The book was published by Paulist Press which has a long record of putting out bad books by dissenters and pro-abortion cheerleaders. Guess where this book is going -- right into the circular file. As I used to tell my sons when they were attending a less than orthodox Catholic high school. "Just because someone is wearing a roman collar doesn't mean he's telling you the truth." Don't waste your time reading bad Catholic books. Check out Fr. John Hardon's Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan and Fr. James Schall's website on Another Sort of Learning.  These two priests can be trusted, unlike Fr. Stuhlmueller. Always read with a critical eye.

Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.

3 comments:

  1. Acts 5:38-39 NABRE "For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it does from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God" Father Carroll Stuhlmueller CP must have given his interpretation of the bible message.

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  2. Things can be supernaturally inspired, not by God but by Satan. Islam originated with an apparition to Muhammad which was not St Gabriel the Archangel, but rather Satan appearing as "Gabriel". The protestant revolt was inspired by Martin Luther, a man highly infected with evil.

    As Mary Ann pointed out - would God inspire both Islam and the Battle of Lepanto each to fight against the other? Two entities inspired by Him to go to battle? No! One was evil (Islam). One was good (the Christians of the Holy League). It was a battle between good and evil.

    So yes, when reading or listening to a homily from a priest, bishop, cardinal or, today the pope, always be prepared to sort the tares from the wheat. I don't listen to or read anything but orthodoxy....even secular books and (some) movies are better than leftist Catholic writings... which is why I never listen to Pope Francis. I don't want to be angry everyday. I prefer peace in my soul.

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  3. Excellent reminder. I would also recommend great care when making a Mission at one's parish or a Retreat at a Catholic Retreat Center.
    i made a resolution many years ago to determine how orthodox the Retreat Master was before making the Retreat.

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