Thinking about Trolls and Troll Farms

I have a few commenters here who are clearly trolls. One in particular makes me think of  Saul Alinsky whenever he (I think it's a man.) comments. He uses many of Alinsky's rules for radicals like trying to freeze the target and put him/her on the defensive.

Reading up on professional, paid trolling I wondered if there are paid trolls out there who go after the websites, blogs, social media pages, etc. of orthodox/traditional Catholics.  I have no illusions about the influence of my blog. I generally have 300-400 visitors a day. If something I write strikes a chord, I can get as many as 700-1,000 visitors, but that's rare.

What's Going on Here?

When you get stirred up over something someone posted on social media or a blog comment or an in-person confrontation, what do you do? I think the sensible first response is to hit the pause button. Step 2 is to ask yourself these questions: "What's going on here? Why am I upset? What is this person's motivation? What's the best way to respond?" 

There are a number of answers to the question, What's going on here? It's an important place to begin in order to prevent being pinned to a board like an insect, which is exactly what some people seem to want. So what's going on? Here are some possibilities:

"The Shepherds Govern the Flock."... Or Do They?

Logo of the 2024 Lutheran Assembly. The synodal way is making us Protestants.

The never-ending synodal process has become a serious trial to those who love the Church. One wonders why the bishops have continued to participate and even wax enthusiastic while these events fulfill the rallying cry of Francis to "make a mess." In view of the confusion and, even questionable doctrinal novelties accompanying the process, one would expect a little hesitancy and even push back from the bishops. But there's been precious little of that from the majority who undermine their own authority as they carry out the Vatican demands to "listen" to the vox populi, especially those who want to turn the Church into another Protestant sect. 

Bishop Sheen in Rochester: The Alinsky Connection

In a 1974 Playboy interview Saul Alinsky said,
"If there is an afterlife, and I have anything to say
  about it, I will unreservedly choose to go to hell."

What can I say? The bloom is off the rose. I can still appreciate much of Fulton Sheen's work, but I can never read it again without a critical eye.  Learning about Sheen's Teilhard enthusiasm got me looking a little deeper into his social justice work. Stephanie Block, an expert on Alinsky community organizing, told me awhile back about Fulton Sheen's connections to Alinsky activities in Rochester. I didn't look into it at the time and forgot about it. It's disturbing to see that Sheen was an active enabler of Alinsky's radicalism. If he were alive today, I hope he would realize the error of some of his beliefs and actions and repudiate them. We'll never know. 

Would Sheen have supported a priest like Fr. Michael Pfleger in Chicago? I can't imagine it, but the priest he made his social justice guru, Fr. David Finks, sounds a lot like Pfleger who's even too much for liberal Cardinal Blase Cupich. Finks worked with the Alinsky organization FIGHT that targeted Kodak. During his tenure at the USCCB, he helped to create the notorious Catholic Campaign for Human Development which allowed Alinsky organizing groups (that support intrinsic evils condemned by the Church) to pick the pockets of the faithful. He later left the priesthood and married. And this was the man in whom Sheen put so much trust. It is disheartening to see how a man can be misled into undermining the good he does with their right hand, by the evil he supports with the left. But I don't intend to inter the good Sheen did with his bones. We have much to thank him for: his vigorous opposition to Communism, his constant urging for priests to make a daily holy hour, the excellence of so much of his writing, the conversions he fostered like Bella Dodd. Pray for Fulton Sheen and learn a little more about him in this 50 year old snapshot from Catholic Digest.

Red Pill Brief Part VIII

This video is 6.55 minutes. In it Stephen Coughlin shows that Islam is not a theological equivalent of other Western faiths. Coughlin says that he isn't going to say "groups like the Vatican are going to come out and say that they recognize that Allah is God, but they severely flirt with that issue." He also demonstrates that the Abraham of the Old Testament and the Abraham of the Qur'an are opposites...one is an apple and the other is an orange. We can believe in one, or the other, or neither, but we cannot believe in both, therefore, Islam is not an Abrahamic faith. He further explains that In Islam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus are all Muslim prophets.

Red Pill Brief Part II (5.36 minutes)

In this second video, Major Coughlin (who is a Catholic) discusses Interfaith dialogue, Saul Alinsky and the OIC. He states that when Pope Benedict XVI came to America in 2008, he was speaking out about the dangers of the OIC but that the American Bishops undermined Benedict every step of the way. 

What does an Alinskyite parish look like? St. Peters in Little Washington, VA is the Answer!

Fr. "Tuck" Grinnell

When a pastor decides he'd rather follow the ungodly example of Saul Alinsky rather than the example of Jesus Christ, it has devastating effects on the people of his flock. St. Peters in Little Washington, VA used to be an orthodox parish. After many years of faithful, reverent priests who formed the parish into a cohesive family of God, however, they were assigned an Alinsky follower named Fr. Horace ("call me Tuck") Grinnell.

Fr. "Tuck" helped to found the Industrial Foundations affiliate, VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement), in northern Virginia when he was a pastor there. His credentials as a dissenter are long. While at St. Anthony's in Bailey's Crossroads, his Grinnell Lecture Series in honor of his parents welcomed numerous dissenters to speak including Monika ("the modernist") Hellwig now deceased. One of his cheerleaders, "Sister" Brigid Mary Meehan, ultimately had herself "ordained" as a priestess and now pretends to be a Catholic bishop.

When he was pastor at St. Charles in Arlngton, Father invited the Nuns on the Bus to use the Church  as a propaganda stop for liberalism and to promote Democrat candidates. The list of scandals goes on and on.

Embezzlement (I.e., Fleecing the Sheep): The Next Big Scandal?

Check it out here.

And please, folks, never put cash in the collection basket! It's easy to lift bills and there's no paper trail. Writing a check makes it a lot harder to steal. None of this comes as a surprise to me. A priest friend from California told me several years ago that a friend of his who is a financial adviser and investigator to the Vatican told him the next big scandal would be over embezzlement. It was second hand hearsay for me, but every time I read about an immoral priest supporting a lavish lifestyle with money stolen from parishioners, I remember my conversation with my friend.

The Five Stages of Religious Persecution

Msgr. Charles Pope has written an article about the five stages of religious persecution. It's a sobering perspective, especially when you consider that the stages coincide in many respects with Alinsky's strategy in Rules for Radicals to gain power for community organizers and Kirk and Madsen's strategy in After the Ball to advance the homosexual agenda. Here are Msgr. Pope's five stages:

Step 1: Stereotype the targeted group

Step 2: Vilify the targeted group for alleged crimes or misconduct

Step 3: Marginalize the targeted group's role in society

Step 4: Criminalize the targeted group or its works

Step 5: Persecute the targeted group outright

These steps fit nicely with Alinsky's strategy for attacking particular groups. "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Since Alinsky also preaches that the "end justifies the means" and portrays the organizer's goal as a "war,"

Stop, Mary! Boycott CCHD!

Is Fr. Tuck Grinnell Endorsing Congressman Jim Moran?

On Monday evening St. Anthony's in Falls Church, VA along with other liberal organizations (some with aims directly opposed to Catholic teaching), sposored pro-abortion Catholic Congressman Jim Moran at a forum to discuss "immigration reform." St. Anthony's participation could only happen with the direct support of pastor/community organizer Fr. Tuck Grinnell. Fr. Tuck is a lead organizer in Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE), an affiliate of the Alinsky group, Industrial Areas Foundation.

"Immigration reform" is codespeak for amnesty for illegals. Moran not only favors amnesty, but in-state tuition, welfare benefits, and other taxpayer-funded services for the invaders. This is tantamount to someone entering your house uninvited, sitting down at your table, and demanding your dinner and a bed. It isn't just a border problem. About 40% of illegals come through a port of entry and then violate the terms of their admission.

Michael Cutler of the Center for Immigration Studies was a thirty-year veteran of INS, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. His experience makes him an authority on the impact of illegal immigration on the United States. I recently heard him on a radio talk show bringing up a number of serious problems, some of which I had never considered:

---Economic Impact: Many illegals come for one reason - to make money and send it home. This results in a serious financial drain on the American economy.
---Health Impact: Illegals tend to congregate and, because many men come without their families, prostitution increases. Cutler described how health clinics pop up in cities with large illegal populations to service the prostitutes. (And no doubt provide abortions.) Often they also bring diseases like TB.
---Crime: Gang activity is common among the illegal populations. They prey on everyone. In my own state of Virginia, gang violence has been directly linked to illegals.
---National Security: The 9/11 hijackers were illegal aliens. Our failure to control our borders and monitor those who overstay makes us more vulnerable to terrorist activity.

Do the research. Compassion is fine. We all want to welcome the stranger who comes in legally. But illegals prey on both natural born citizens and those who waited in line to enter legally. It is insane to reward their actions.

How Catholics Funded the Election of the Most Pro-Abortion Politician in History

The Catholic Connection to Barack Obama

This is a 2008 column by Phyllis Schlafly, but worth reviewing to see how Catholics in the pew financed the election of Barack Obama, the most pro-abortion politician in history. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development has a record that puts in queston whether or not it can be trusted. A campaign to fund charitable projects is great if the money truly goes to charity. But if it's funding liberal politics and politicians and undermining the Catholic faith in the process, then something needs to be done. CCHD has defunded ACORN. Is the problem ended? No. Large portions of the collection go to other community organizing groups that operate the same way, whose primary purpose is advancing liberal politics and politicians. Ask your bishop for an overhaul in CCHD. In the meantime ask yourself whether the campaign can currently be trusted with your money.

Is Jimmy Carter Channeling Saul Alinsky?

The community organizers are at it again...or still. Jimmy Carter is the latest liberal clone beating the drum that opposing Obama's policies proves you are a racist. (Hmm...does that include the black conservatives in the movement?)

Carter appears be channeling Saul Alinsky. Here's a little of what the famous rebel espoused. Quotes are taken from Rules for Radicals.

First of all, Alinsky was a true secular humanist who believed in nothing but the accumulation of power. Like most liberals he believed there is no such thing as truth. "An organizer working in and for an open society is in an ideological dilemma to begin with, he does not have a fixed truth -- truth to him is relative and changing; everything to him is relative and changing.... To the extent that he is free from the shackles of dogma, he can respond to the realities of the widely different situations." Carter, who left his Church recently, has always been a moral relativist, able to justify almost anything despite it opposing the Christian faith he professes.

Since the Alinsky organizer does not believe in truth and his only God is power, his ethics are Machiavellian: "The third rule of ethics of means and ends is that in war the end justifies almost any means...." And also: "The seventh rule... is that generally success or failure is a mighty determinant of ethics...." In other words, "Might proves right." So if you lie, cheat, spread slanderous and false rumors about "the enemy," you are justified as long as it moves you toward the goal. Bingo! Does Carter really believe that all those opposing Obama are racists or is this simply a convenient tactic?

Positioning yourself on the moral high ground is one of the most insidious rules in the playbook. "Do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments." On target again. Carter is attempting to take the moral high ground by labeling all those who oppose Obama's government takeover as racists. It fits with another Alinsky tactic, "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." We know who the target is - conservative Americans who love the Constitution and want it upheld by government. Carter, the mainstream media, liberal politicians, etc. are all engaging in "freezing the target." They attempt to paint those who disagree with Obama's policies as extremist, racist, dangerous, anti-government, gun-toting, Southern, rednecks. Look at the rhetoric and recognize the tactic. If you repeat a lie long enough, as Joseph Goebbels knew, many people will chant the mantra. Carter has just become the highest profile cheerleader for the lie.

Do you think Obama/Carter are unhappy with the current hostile atmosphere being created in the country? Think again! Remember, Obama is a community organizer first. Alinsky says, "The first step in community organization is community disorganization....Present arrangements must be disorganized if they are to be displace by new patterns.... All change means disorganization of the old and organization of the new." Hostility and tension carry the plan forward.

Alinsky goes further. "The job then is getting the people to move, to act, to participate; in short, to develop and harness the necessary power to effectively conflict with the prevailing patterns and change them. When those prominent in the status quo turn and label you an 'agitator' they are completely correct, for that is, in one word, your function—to agitate to the point of conflict."

Playing the race card is a manipulation. "[The organizer] must create a mechanism that can drain off the underlying guilt [of bleeding-heart liberals] for having accepted the previous situation for so long a time." Who are they trying to manipulate? Not the conservative, tea party patriots, that's for sure, but their liberal base. The real racists are the organized agitators who keep their useful lackeys on the liberal plantation stirred up and ready to attack THOSE RACIST, REDNECK, SOUTHERN BIGOTS.

Why is this the most divisive president we've ever seen? Do you recall any president who so often attacked good-hearted, patriotic Americans as this man has? It's not an accident. Obama is an Alinsky organizer and he and his allies (or useful idiots) like Carter are following the rules.

Things are unlikely to calm down because another important Alinsky rule is, "Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose." Obama has plans now to circulate among his media adorers with a string of appearances on TV talk shows. Hopefully, the dumbing down of the American people, which I believe is deliberate, will work against him here. The thirty-second attention span of many viewers may make them sick to death of seeing Obama's pretty face once again going "yadda, yadda, yadda."

Read Rules for Radicals. If you want to combat Madison Avenue's manipulative advertising tactics, you need to know what they are. If you want to combat the community organizer's plans you need to know when he's trying to "freeze, personalize, and polarize" you.

Maybe we need to develop our own book of rules for fighting the radicals. We have a good start already -- The Ten Commandments and the Eight Beatitudes. Our standard bearer is Christ the King. Our boot camp is in Church.

As for Jimmy Carter, his statements about racism, whether misguided or deliberately provocative, indicate he is willing to slander good Americans to advance the liberal agenda. It reflects badly on him and puts him squarely in the camp of Saul Alinsky and those willing to use any immoral means to a bad end. Shame on you, Jimmy, you should have stuck with peanut farming.

Carter 'Racism' Claim Draws Widespread Criticism

Responses to the President's Encore on Health Care

The president's speech last night offered nothing new, just more of same about his plan which actually doesn't exist. THERE IS NO OBAMA PLAN, just Democratic proposals like HB 3200, the 1000+ page monstrosity that most congressman haven't read. So when the president says that "my plan" will do this or that, what exactly is he talking about? It's convenient, of course, not to have anything written down because he can claim anything about "the plan" and no one can check it out. He can call his critics liars for saying abortion will be covered because he says it won't in "my plan." But the only proposals out there will allow it. So where's your plan, Mr. President?

Remember that with Obama we are basically dealing with a community organizer, not a politician. Politics is the art of compromise - coming up with the best legislation that a body of representatives, voting for the people, can agree to. Community organizing, on the other hand, has nothing to do with compromise. It is about bringing together a constituency that uses whatever means necessary to get what they want. Community organizers are basically lobbyists with clubs and pitchforks.

Saul Alinsky, the father of community organizing, said the organizer must "rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression.... An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent."

Is it any wonder that the government process is becoming so acrimonious? This is the experience our community-organizer-in-chief brought to the oval office. And the tactics being used throughout the health care debate, especially at the town hall meetings with union thugs manhandling people, illustrate the community organizer's talent for fomenting "dissatisfaction and discontent." The president knows nothing about "bi-partisan" working together. The incivility that is so obvious in the government process is fundamental to community organizing.

Not long ago, Phyllis Schlafly advised her Eagle Forum members to "Put Rules for Radicals on your must-read list if you want to understand much of contemporary politics." It was good advice. If you want to know your president, read the book that formed his politics.

Here are some of the responses to the president's speech:

GOP Response to Obama's Health Care Address

From Mike Huckabee

Sarah Palin: Response to the President's Health Care Speech

And from Brian Gibson of Pro-Life Action Minstries:

The following was written for our next newsletter After listening to President Obama's speech last night, it seems more pertinent than when I wrote it earlier this week. Feel free to distribute this as you see fit.


"I Met Obama" -- a Year Later

About a year ago, while returning from sidewalk counseling at Planned Parenthood, I had a "chance" encounter with our President. At the time he was the Democrats candidate for President. Mr. Obama had quietly come to the Twin Cities for an evening fundraising event. My encounter with him was the next morning on the sidewalk in front of the Copper Dome Restaurant. Mr. Obama's "surprise" visit to the restaurant had more police, Secret Service Agents, and media persons in attendance than "regular citizens."

When Mr. Obama came out of the restaurant, he began shaking hands of those who had started to gather on the sidewalk. I was the second to be greeted by the candidate. It was an incredible opportunity to challenge Mr. Obama's pro-abortion positions which I took up immediately as he took my handshake

Much has transpired since that morning in August. The response I received from Mr. Obama has become very telling of this man's way of handling issues which he has strong beliefs and purposeful intentions. His response to me that day, the only person in the vicinity challenging his positions, was remarkably cool and collected. Instead of reacting by backing away or trying to dismiss me quickly, he held my handshake and tried to let me know that he was empathetic to what I was saying, even thanking me for sidewalk counseling that morning. He told me of his deep religious struggle with the abortion issue. But since taking office, Mr. Obama has acted decisively in favor of the killing of the unborn, showing no outward signs of a religious struggle over abortion.

Many months later, as President of the United States, Mr. Obama had a meeting with Roman Catholic Francis Cardinal George which included the life issues. Cardinal George related afterward that he had to repeatedly tell Mr. Obama that they did not agree on abortion and other life issues. Apparently, the President continues to deal with these all too important issues by trying to get us to believe that he agrees with us, while he does something else entirely.

Now Mr. Obama is telling the nation that pro-life leaders are "bearing false witness" and disseminating misinformation regarding the inclusion of abortion and euthanasia in the health care reform legislation he is pressing so hard to get enacted into law. Yet even the mainstream media has begun to make it clear that the President is wrong. The Wall Strret Journal, the Associated Press, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, and FactCheck.org have all commented that taxpayer funding of abortion and the requirement that abortion be covered are included in the health care bill before the House of Representatives. Once again, Mr. Obama wants us to accept what he says and disregard what he actually is doing.

He is articulate. He is poised. He is a capable of endearing many to himself as he meets and speaks to thousands. He is very charismatic. But he is also very dangerous. A man whose word is opposite his actions is untrustworthy, no matter how amazingly smooth and articulate he may be.

As stated in Romans 16:18, "For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting." Let us not be the unsuspecting when it comes to our leaders in Washington. Let us keep them in our prayers, not for the success of their plans, but for what is truly for the good of our nation; the defense of the innocent and upholding of the truth. Let us pray for their change of heart toward He who is all good. And let us continue to challenge their evil positions, listening not to smooth and flattering speech.


Our weekly radio show airs on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to Noon. Listen as it airs in the Twin Cities area on AM 1330 or hear it on the internet from anywhere at http://relevantradio.streamguys.us/flash/ondemand.html. Click on "Living the Gospel of Life" to hear the show.

Sincerely in Christ,

Brian Gibson
Executive Director
Pro-Life Action Ministries

A Bad Mixed Marriage: the Catholic Church and Left Wing Radicals

There are many imposters in the Church today who use the words of faith to cover actions of worldly betrayal. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development is one of the worst, essentially stealing the hard-earned money of the Catholic faithful in the pews to give it to liberal community organizing groups that use it to secure elections for left-wing politians.

Be informed. Here are a few more recent articles uncovering the wolfism of the Catholic left. Their sheeply bleating is a cover for their wolfly action. Watch out for their teeth.

Left-Wing Radicalism in the Church by Matthew Vadum

Picking Pockets in the Pew by Mary Ann Kreitzer

Articles from the Catholic Media Coalition website

The Big Con by Anne Hendershott

Fr. Mitch Pacwa and Thoughts on Alinsky Organizing

Fr. Mitch had firsthand experience with Alinsky organizing in Chicago and his story illustrates one of the things that went so wrong with the Jesuits who, on the whole, have gone over to the dark side of abandoning God for the world. Just look at their schools!

Catholics need to understand that the disaster in the Church in modern times is rooted at least to some to degree in community organizing, especially in the Church. The lead organizer, as Alinsky pointed out in the forward to Rules for Radicals is the original rebel, Lucifer. The organizers smell of Luciferian sulphur as they rush about promoting their agenda which is all about accruing power to themselves using the people as stooges. Consider the French Revolution and the Russian Revolution. Both put tyrannical and murderous governments in place by using the discontent of the people as the engine to overthrow the monarchies. The poor ended up worse off than ever, but the improvement of their lot was never the primary purpose. Power to the people is the organizer's pretense, but it's really about power to the organizers.

Look at the president, our organizer-in-chief. Is there any evidence that he really wants to hear the people? No. He shoved through his massive spending bill filled with millions of dollars of earmarks (for the unions, the banks, ACORN, etc.) under the pretense it was a "stimulus." He took over the auto industry against the objections of hundreds of economists and millions of Americans, claiming to have broad support. Now he's trying to take over health care with a bill which includes a massive invasion of people's privacy, giving government the right to have access to our bank accounts, medical information, etc. And the attempt to control town hall meetings are classic Alinsky. Fortunately, Americans, themselves are showing some of the revolutionary spirit of 1776 and aren't standing for it.

That the American Church enables this (think Catholic Campaign for Human Development - CCHD, Industrial Areas Foundation - IAF, PICO, GAMALIEL, Catholics United, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, etc.) is part of this sham is horrifying.

Here's what Fr. Pacwa says about his experience in Chicago:

I never forgot the lessons I learned about Alinsky's community organizing. The key to starting an organization was to find an issue that united the people. The issue should be small enough to win a victory, but large enough to matter to the folks. Second, after choosing the issue we had to identify an enemy the community could recognize as the personification of the issue. Usually this was some politician or businessman. Third, an action had to be designed by which the people could attack the enemy and force his or her hand on the issue, thereby giving the folks a victory. That would motivate them to take on bigger and more important issues, while the leaders among the people could emerge. This was a means of bringing power to the people.

In my own diocese VOICE (Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement) is following the blueprint described by Fr. Pacwa. They have identified a few popular issues and are pursuing them with single-minded intensity. They have regular "actions" and make it clear that "the enemy" are politicians who don't support their agenda. At present their "voice" is low key, but one can expect that to change if politicians don't fall in line. One local politician is may already be a target since he won't promise to do what they want. According to The Washington Post:

Corey A. Stewart (R), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, rejected the group's demand that the county spend upward of $20 million on building and preserving affordable housing.

"I'm not going to commit to that -- absolutely not," said Stewart.... "Instead of focusing on the funding, we have to focus on what the problem is -- which is a surplus of housing on the market" from the epidemic of home foreclosures that have hit Prince William, he said.

In the same article, Fr. Tuck Grinnell, pastor of St. Anthony's in Falls Church made it clear the group will target those who don't jump on the VOICE bandwagon. "From the elected officials' side, they're going to see the birth of an interfaith organization as a huge ally for them if they do the right thing or a huge obstacle if they do the wrong thing."

Read all you can about Alinsky organizing so you'll know when you're being manipulated. Their tactics are like Madison Avenue's. Once you recognize them, they have much less effect. The more of us who are educated and resistent, the more we can be the truth vaccine for our culture.

Tyranny or Freedom: Godless Socialism or a Constitutional Republic?

Pastor Stephen Broden will no doubt be called an "Uncle Tom" just like Clarence Thomas, J.C. Watts, and other black conservatives who dare to escape the liberal plantation. Pray for more of these articulate men and women of color to step forth and speak the truth with courage. "We must fight....we must win!" Don't you wish our Catholic pastors spoke with this kind of zeal?

Great Editorial from Wesley Pruden on the Town Hall Meetings

PRUDEN: Recycling the contempt

Bill Ayers and Barrack Obama - How Close are the ties?

Bill Ayers is really a capitalist at heart dontcha know. He's busy promoting his new book and I doubt if he plans to turn the profits over to social justice works. How close is the relationship between the former terrorist and President Obama? What part has this leftist radical really played in the Obama rise? And how close are they now? Interesting questions to keep in mind over the next few years.

Face to face with a terrorist

Did Bill Ayers write Obama's "Dreams?"

Barack Obama and Bill Ayers: Stanley Kurtz Makes the Connection

On the Feast of the Holy Family Become Like Little Children

What could be more appropriate than to celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family with a daughter and son-in-law, their four children, and four additional grandchildren whose parents are off on a little Christmas adventure? To add to the fun, one of the wee ones turned three today so we planned a birthday brunch complete with a recycled cake made by stacking and refrosting leftovers from a Christmas eve birthday cake for Jesus. Just think: we avoided increasing the sugar supply, saved money, and minimized our carbon footprints by not using extra electricity to bake a new cake. Wouldn't Al Gore be proud?

I never enjoy life so much as when I am surrounded by a houseful of little voices. Just thinking about them brings a smile to my face and a song to my heart. Jesus must have felt the same way. "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them," he told the apostles, "for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs."

Why did Jesus say that? Was he praising their childishness? If he was, he must absolutely love our Peter Pan culture where big babies in adult bodies avoid reality, use sexual promiscuity and other vices as grown-up lollipops, and refuse any adult responsibility to the point of murdering their own children.

No, Jesus wasn't praising children for being childish, but for their innocence, their trusting dependence, and their complete guilelessness. The dictionary defines guile as "treacherous cunning, skillful deceit." When was the last time you were deceived by the "treacherous cunning" of a little child? When did a toddler betray you with a kiss?

The world tends to admire guile especially when the "skillful deceit" succeeds. Saul Alinsky, the father of community organizing whom Barack Obama considers a mentor, taught his followers to use guile whenever necessary to get what they wanted. He called himself the Machiavelli of the poor, as if dishonesty can bring good to anyone. Guile-filled adults cook books and run ponzi schemes that rob hardworking people of their life savings. How many poor people with the "help" of community organizers lost whatever savings they had by the forclosure of a bad loan? Who benefitted? Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and the CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, not the poor. Guile-filled people believe they are above the rest of men; rules of morality don't apply to them. They make their own rules no matter how evil the outcomes. As the world's powerful ones, they stand at the opposite end of the spectrum from the powerless, especially children.

Fr. John Hardon, SJ often said that only little, humble people will get into heaven. That means adults must foster the virtues of innocence, dependence on God, and guilelessness. Those virtues make one fit to serve the Lord like Nathaniel whom Jesus called to be an apostle saying, "Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile." Wouldn't you love to be described by the Lord in that fashion? The prescription is simple even if filling it is hard. Choose the virtue and work toward it every day through practice. That could make a great new year's resolution!