We just left Salt Lake City and being at the center of Mormanism got me thinking about their early practice of polygamy which they abandoned in the late 1800s, I believe because of the desire for statehood. To their credit, the Morman Church has opposed same sex marriage, but the assault on the institution makes polygamy and polyamory and every other deviant lifestyle inevitable. Once the institution is defined as whatever I define as love, the possibilities are limitless. Hey, we've got dozens of "genders" now; why not dozens of "marriages" including same sex, bigamy, polygamy, incestuous, child and adult, you name it. After all, as Woody Allen says, the heart wants what the heart wants (and so do the genitals). One guy in Australia married his dog, why not a girl and her horse or an old goat and his ewe. What's to stop it?
I'll tell you...look in the mirror. Don't buy into the lie that same sex deviance is equivalent to the normal attraction between a man and woman, or the lie that mutilating the body and pumping it full of artificial hormones can change the genetic makeup of a woman into a man or vice versa. Live in the real world! Treat all people with respect, but not their sick ideas. Love always tells the truth with charity. As St. Paul says, "Love is patient, love is kind," but it is also "not happy with evil, but rejoices in the truth."
Speak the truth in love and prepare to be persecuted like the Master. To be like Him is an honor.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Obedience: Sometimes it's Wrong
A fella commenting on my posts criticizing the Knights of Columbus and calling for reform got highly incensed and shook the dust off his feet when I had the temerity to suggest that Catholics are not obliged to obey their bishops in all things. Now, don't get me wrong, I think obedience is an important virtue. In fact, obedience is closely connected to the virtue of humility. And, as Fr. John Hardon often said, "Only humble people get into heaven." So I take the virtue of obedience seriously. But there is virtuous obedience, blind obedience, and evil obedience. The wise and the prudent need to make distinctions between them.
Clearly, obedience is evil when the order being obeyed involves committing sin. Soldiers who deliberately murder noncombatant civilians because they were "following orders" are guilty of wartime atrocities. No one may obey an evil order. That's the basis for war crime tribunals. Additionally, no one has an obligation to obey evil laws so those who operated the Underground Railroad or ignored the Jim Crow laws or the Nuremburg laws were morally justified. The Chinese who defy the one-child policy are completely right to disobey their evil government. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, an evil law that defies the law of God is no law at all.
Even lawful authority has limits. Children owe obedience to parents and those who serve in place of parents, like teachers, but a parent may not order a child to marry a particular person or follow a particular path in life, and teachers have no right to assign immoral books or films as required material. St. Clare certainly was not guilty of disobedience when she defied her parents and ran away to become a nun.
Bishops have authority and the duty to teach, govern, and sanctify their flocks in the faith. Their authority is intrinsically linked to the authority of the Pope and the Church. When they teach according to the mind of the Church, the flock is bound to obey. But when a bishop steps outside the deposit of the faith to make up his own rules, the laity, and even his priests, do not owe him obedience. Certainly, the priests under Arian bishops had not only the right, but the duty to disobey. Every heresy in the Church that I can think of originated with a cleric. Nestorius was a bishop. Martin Luther was a priest/monk. Arius was a priest. Not much is known about Pelagius, but he is commonly referred to as a British monk. Should the flock have followed these men because they wore Roman collars?
Of course not! And to suggest that blindly obeying clerics is virtuous is clericalism, the attitude that a Roman collar sets a man above all others and he should be obeyed in all matters both religious and secular. What nonsense when bishops throughout history have been responsible for so much evil. It was a bishop who conspired with the English to burn Joan of Arc at the stake. It was the entire bench of bishops in England minus one, John Fisher, who went along with Henry VIII's evil plan to set aside Catherine, marry Ann Boleyn, and declare himself head of the Church. Bishops used clericalism when they browbeat parents of sexually abused children into silence assuring them the matter would be taken care of and then moving the abusers again and again. They accused parents of wanting to destroy the Church. Sadly, the parents' silence enabled the evil to continue for decades. Failing to sound the alarm multiplied the problem exponentially.
To suggest that bishops should be obeyed in all things is just plain absurd.
As for the Knights of Columbus, they have a constitution and by-laws that require all members to be "practical," i.e., practicing Catholics. Those members who commit public scandal by supporting positions that openly defy Church teaching are not eligible to be Knights according to the Knights' own documents. To allow pro-abortion politicians to maintain membership and use it as they politic for reelection is scandalous and scandal is a serious sin. No bishop or pastor has the authority to order a council to admit or maintain the membership of such a knight. Supreme has no right to order councils to retain such members.
The Knights remove those who do not pay their dues. It is ridiculous to assert that they cannot remove a man who publicly advocates the murder of unborn children. I don't, however, suggest that men should quit the Knights in protest. I think they should stay and try to get Supreme and the state councils to change. If they won't, local councils who love the least of God's little ones waiting to be born would do well to vote to leave the Knights as a group and reestablish themselves as independent men's service groups within their parishes. In most cases, the groups would hardly know the difference except for having a lot less paperwork and keeping all their dues money locally.
And think of the impact of many councils leaving with the promise to return when the Knights begin to honor their own constitution and by-laws. The Knights do great good, but they poison the well when they violate their own rules and allow those who publicly defy the Church to remain Knights in good standing. Abortion laws and same sex marriage laws have, in some cases, only passed because of pro-abortion, pro-homosexual knights. That reality is so shameful as to cast a pall on the good the knights do. It must end!
Clearly, obedience is evil when the order being obeyed involves committing sin. Soldiers who deliberately murder noncombatant civilians because they were "following orders" are guilty of wartime atrocities. No one may obey an evil order. That's the basis for war crime tribunals. Additionally, no one has an obligation to obey evil laws so those who operated the Underground Railroad or ignored the Jim Crow laws or the Nuremburg laws were morally justified. The Chinese who defy the one-child policy are completely right to disobey their evil government. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, an evil law that defies the law of God is no law at all.
Even lawful authority has limits. Children owe obedience to parents and those who serve in place of parents, like teachers, but a parent may not order a child to marry a particular person or follow a particular path in life, and teachers have no right to assign immoral books or films as required material. St. Clare certainly was not guilty of disobedience when she defied her parents and ran away to become a nun.
Bishops have authority and the duty to teach, govern, and sanctify their flocks in the faith. Their authority is intrinsically linked to the authority of the Pope and the Church. When they teach according to the mind of the Church, the flock is bound to obey. But when a bishop steps outside the deposit of the faith to make up his own rules, the laity, and even his priests, do not owe him obedience. Certainly, the priests under Arian bishops had not only the right, but the duty to disobey. Every heresy in the Church that I can think of originated with a cleric. Nestorius was a bishop. Martin Luther was a priest/monk. Arius was a priest. Not much is known about Pelagius, but he is commonly referred to as a British monk. Should the flock have followed these men because they wore Roman collars?
Of course not! And to suggest that blindly obeying clerics is virtuous is clericalism, the attitude that a Roman collar sets a man above all others and he should be obeyed in all matters both religious and secular. What nonsense when bishops throughout history have been responsible for so much evil. It was a bishop who conspired with the English to burn Joan of Arc at the stake. It was the entire bench of bishops in England minus one, John Fisher, who went along with Henry VIII's evil plan to set aside Catherine, marry Ann Boleyn, and declare himself head of the Church. Bishops used clericalism when they browbeat parents of sexually abused children into silence assuring them the matter would be taken care of and then moving the abusers again and again. They accused parents of wanting to destroy the Church. Sadly, the parents' silence enabled the evil to continue for decades. Failing to sound the alarm multiplied the problem exponentially.
To suggest that bishops should be obeyed in all things is just plain absurd.
As for the Knights of Columbus, they have a constitution and by-laws that require all members to be "practical," i.e., practicing Catholics. Those members who commit public scandal by supporting positions that openly defy Church teaching are not eligible to be Knights according to the Knights' own documents. To allow pro-abortion politicians to maintain membership and use it as they politic for reelection is scandalous and scandal is a serious sin. No bishop or pastor has the authority to order a council to admit or maintain the membership of such a knight. Supreme has no right to order councils to retain such members.
The Knights remove those who do not pay their dues. It is ridiculous to assert that they cannot remove a man who publicly advocates the murder of unborn children. I don't, however, suggest that men should quit the Knights in protest. I think they should stay and try to get Supreme and the state councils to change. If they won't, local councils who love the least of God's little ones waiting to be born would do well to vote to leave the Knights as a group and reestablish themselves as independent men's service groups within their parishes. In most cases, the groups would hardly know the difference except for having a lot less paperwork and keeping all their dues money locally.
And think of the impact of many councils leaving with the promise to return when the Knights begin to honor their own constitution and by-laws. The Knights do great good, but they poison the well when they violate their own rules and allow those who publicly defy the Church to remain Knights in good standing. Abortion laws and same sex marriage laws have, in some cases, only passed because of pro-abortion, pro-homosexual knights. That reality is so shameful as to cast a pall on the good the knights do. It must end!
Should a Catholic Support the CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development)?
The CCHD's annual collection is billed as an anti-poverty measure. Who can possibly argue with helping the poor, eh? But since the inception of the collection, a strategy that included collaberation between Msgr. Jack Egan of Chicago and community organizing guru Saul Alinsky, faithful Catholics have complained that much of the money goes into organizing for liberal causes. Many groups supported in the past have direct ties to abortion, contraception, and liberal politics. Opposition to the collection has grown to the degree that CCHD has apparently mounted, not so much a cleanup of the organization, but a new strategy to make opposition difficult.
Let me explain. Traditionally, the collection for CCHD is the weekend before Thanksgiving. But in the past year or so, diocese have taken a new approach to the special collection by taking it up at odd times. As we were passing through South Dakota, the bulletin for the church in Spearfish was advertising it for September. In some places, even the name has changed. The collection in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. labeled it Communication +. Now isn't that interesting? It comes across to me as a measure to eliminate the effectiveness of the opposition and fool as many people in the pews as possible. What does that say about the bishops' bureaucracy?
Catholics need to be careful about where they put their money. Sadly, in many dioceses, the people in the pew cannot trust that their bishop is protecting the interests of the most vulnerable. When Catholic money goes to organizations that enable the culture of death, it's time to rise in righteous anger and fight. One way is to stop giving to special collections altogether.
In order to get a better idea of how CCHD advances the culture of death, see Stephanie Block's series at SperoForum. And hold on to your wallet. If your diocese collects for CCHD, you can be sure that someone in the chancery is not minding the store.
Let me explain. Traditionally, the collection for CCHD is the weekend before Thanksgiving. But in the past year or so, diocese have taken a new approach to the special collection by taking it up at odd times. As we were passing through South Dakota, the bulletin for the church in Spearfish was advertising it for September. In some places, even the name has changed. The collection in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. labeled it Communication +. Now isn't that interesting? It comes across to me as a measure to eliminate the effectiveness of the opposition and fool as many people in the pews as possible. What does that say about the bishops' bureaucracy?
Catholics need to be careful about where they put their money. Sadly, in many dioceses, the people in the pew cannot trust that their bishop is protecting the interests of the most vulnerable. When Catholic money goes to organizations that enable the culture of death, it's time to rise in righteous anger and fight. One way is to stop giving to special collections altogether.
In order to get a better idea of how CCHD advances the culture of death, see Stephanie Block's series at SperoForum. And hold on to your wallet. If your diocese collects for CCHD, you can be sure that someone in the chancery is not minding the store.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Silence
Larry and I have been traveling now for three weeks. We've visited eleven states and driven about 3600 miles. When we left home we loaded the car with books on tape and music CDs. Amazingly, we haven't listened to a single one. We haven't listened to the radio either. One of the great gifts of this trip has been silence.
Our world is so noisy. Screwtape wrote to Wormwood that hell was all noise. When I see people plugged into their iPods and on their cell phones before they get out of the driveway, and with stereos blaring... I think of Screwtape. Our world needs more silence. Larry and I have talked through the miles, prayed many rosaries for the intentions of family and friends, and just soaked in the glory of this beautiful country in silence. Who needs artificial noise when the glorious symphony of God's world is playing out before you through the windshield. I hope when we get home in a few weeks we can maintain this appreciation of this great gift of silence.
Our world is so noisy. Screwtape wrote to Wormwood that hell was all noise. When I see people plugged into their iPods and on their cell phones before they get out of the driveway, and with stereos blaring... I think of Screwtape. Our world needs more silence. Larry and I have talked through the miles, prayed many rosaries for the intentions of family and friends, and just soaked in the glory of this beautiful country in silence. Who needs artificial noise when the glorious symphony of God's world is playing out before you through the windshield. I hope when we get home in a few weeks we can maintain this appreciation of this great gift of silence.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Thought for the day: Pray for newlyweds
Today we explored Spearfish Canyon in South Dakota. All I can say is WOW! When we stopped at Roughlock Falls we saw a young couple who were getting married there in the beauty of God's creation. We wished them the best and went on about our day of hiking and sightseeing. At dinner tonight who should come into the restaurant still dressed in their wedding finery but the same young couple. On our way out we stopped at their table, reminded them of our meeting earlier in the day and asked their first names so we could pray for them by name. Please join us in praying for Richie and Bryan. We told them we've been married for 42 years and wished them long years of a joyful marriage. It isn't easy to keep your promises in our disposable world. Do something today to build up a married couple you know: pray, send a note, drop off a treat, make a call. Part of our vocation as married couples is to build up the marriages of others. Orate pro invicem. (Let us pray for one another.)
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Catholic Hospitals: Part of the Culture of Death?
I have a growing folder on Catholic hospitals. Many are losing, or have already lost, their Catholic identities. Like most Catholic universities, the hospitals are rushing to conform to the age rather than bear witness to the truth and to life. Pray for our poor country.
Catholic hospitals prescribing ‘morning-after pill’
Catholic hospitals prescribing ‘morning-after pill’
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
American
This post is a copy of one I posted to my private blog. I hope you enjoy it. Alice
In my last post, I mentioned an interesting conversation I had with Sherrie, my hairdresser of several years. First though, I have to say, I hate getting my hair done. Way back in my twenties, I started getting it highlighted. In all its natural glory, my hair is a very dull and unflattering shade of brown. Some might call it "mousy" but I think mice are cute and my hair color definitely isn't that. So coloring it is a necessary evil on the way to that elusive thing called "beauty". Getting my hair highlighted, cut and blow-dried takes at least two and a half hours. The results are nice but the chair time is pure torture, worse if the stylist is either not fun to talk to or uses me as a therapist as one short-lived stylist did. I truly felt like she was a guest on Jerry Springer and, while I tried to give helpful advice, I could see right away that it was a lost cause. The clincher was when she dribbled hair gunk on my shirt that bleached the color out of the sleeve.
So--I moved on to Sherrie who is cheerful, attractive, nice to talk to and does a consistently good job on my hair. She is also from Iran. That comes up occasionally. I find her stories about life in Iran fascinating. One time she told me that the penalties for crimes like stealing are so stiff that shops are left wide open in the middle of the day as people go to pray. Alcohol is illegal. If a person is caught with it, the consequence is serious jail time. Even so, citizens, including her brother, make their own wine at home. Last week, we talked about 9/11. I asked her if it had a big impact on her. She shot me a look and said that people here called her and her family "murderers". She said that it was hard to explain to her son but as an adult, she managed to cope. She mentioned Timothy McVeigh and said that the fact that he did the unthinkable, didn't make americans in general murderers. Of course, the unfortunate thing is that Timothy McVeigh's actions did bring shame on all of America just as the pilots on 9/11 put all muslims under a cloud of suspicion. It's unfair in some ways but is understandable all the same.
I next asked Sherrie about the capture of Osama Bin Laden. She said, "killing was too good for him. They should have tortured him first. Men like that, it's like they have a devil in them." I didn't know quite what to say to that.
In a related conversation a few days later, Mia asked me, "Mom, why is September 11th sad?" Mia, like the babies of many killed that day, was on the way when it happened. So I told her and her younger sisters about the planes, the three that hit the towers and the Pentagon and the one that went down in the field. They asked a few questions and we moved on with our day. That night, Grace said to Chris, "Daddy, the people on that plane were really nice"--she meant Flight 93. "Nice". Not quite adequate. But it wasn't lost on me that the girls focused on the "nice", the good, the heroic. The very things that won the day. How very american of them.
God bless the USA!
Monday, September 12, 2011
Say a prayer for Paul from Manassas
We had to travel over a thousand miles to meet someone from our own back yard. The receptionist at the desk at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine was very friendly. When we told her we were from Virginia she replied saying, "I just talked to someone else from Virginia, a man traveling by himself."
As we were walking up the path to the church for Mass we saw a man coming down. "Are you from Virginia?" I asked. "Yes," he answered looking puzzled. "How did you know?"
"I'm clairvoyant," I laughed. Then admitted the receptionist told us there was a single man from Virginia and I just guessed. We introduced ourselves and then he told us he had recently returned to the Church after 40 years. He was teaching the Bible in a Protestant church, but started having questions that they could't answer. Guess he made a nuisance of himself because they wouldn't let him teach anymore. He didn't exactly explain what brought him back to the faith, but had visited Marian shrines all over the world even before his return. (Hmm...do you detect a little Mother Mary help here?) Paul had just gone to confession but couldn't stay for Mass because he had to get on the road to head home to Virginia. His dad died recently and he was in the area helping his stepmom. (What a good son!)
But that wasn't the only exciting part of his story. Paul's daughter was at a Protestant school and she decided to become Catholic. And now his wife is in RCIA studying the faith.
Well, the Blessed Mother knows all about the Trinity and the domestic church of the family mirrors the Trinity so why not a trinity of conversions.
We ended our conversation saying we would pray for each other, and I urge you to join, not only in praying but in rejoicing. What a meeting of hope there on that hallowed ground in La Crosse on the feast of the Holy Name of Mary. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
As we were walking up the path to the church for Mass we saw a man coming down. "Are you from Virginia?" I asked. "Yes," he answered looking puzzled. "How did you know?"
"I'm clairvoyant," I laughed. Then admitted the receptionist told us there was a single man from Virginia and I just guessed. We introduced ourselves and then he told us he had recently returned to the Church after 40 years. He was teaching the Bible in a Protestant church, but started having questions that they could't answer. Guess he made a nuisance of himself because they wouldn't let him teach anymore. He didn't exactly explain what brought him back to the faith, but had visited Marian shrines all over the world even before his return. (Hmm...do you detect a little Mother Mary help here?) Paul had just gone to confession but couldn't stay for Mass because he had to get on the road to head home to Virginia. His dad died recently and he was in the area helping his stepmom. (What a good son!)
But that wasn't the only exciting part of his story. Paul's daughter was at a Protestant school and she decided to become Catholic. And now his wife is in RCIA studying the faith.
Well, the Blessed Mother knows all about the Trinity and the domestic church of the family mirrors the Trinity so why not a trinity of conversions.
We ended our conversation saying we would pray for each other, and I urge you to join, not only in praying but in rejoicing. What a meeting of hope there on that hallowed ground in La Crosse on the feast of the Holy Name of Mary. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Sunday Meditation: We are One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church
Larry and I were blessed at every church we visited this week to experience a sense of unity in the faith. Of course, there is disunity in the Church as well coming from those who reject Church teachings and foment dissent, but we didn't see them this week. We saw and heard priests teaching the authentic faith and preaching the gospel as Jesus instructed when he sent them out to claim the whole world for himself.
And it gave me hope! Seeing these good country folk praying together and greeting each other after Mass, I am confident that evil will never overcome good. Praised be Jesus Christ!
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