We do have a good bishop

I haven't agreed with all of his stances, though they typically align with the American Bishops as a whole.  But as I said, I try not to be a 'my side or the highway type.' Likewise, he has never called out any pope since he became bishop, though he has given viewpoints that were clearly not in line with Pope Francis all of the time.  

When he was made bishop of the diocese, it stands to reason that the MSM jumped on it - because of his ethnicity.  But well beyond what he was born looking like, he has brought a bit of a revival to the struggling diocese.  The boom in those entering the Church, and the priesthood, since he came can't be missed.  

A big reason? Long and short, he actually treats the Faith like it is real.  He trained as an exorcist, which I think it especially awesome.  Because he comes from a family of doctors and scientists, it shows by living it out that the two are not opposed to each other.  He's also pretty traditional in his views.  Sometimes he goes so far as to celebrate the customs and practices of our Eastern Orthodox brethren.  Probably due to the presence of Orthodoxy in India. 

He is also about the most energetic bishop I've seen. To quote a  character in the miniseries Jesus of Nazareth, go into a town, cross a street, go into the market and there he is.  Once a few year ago my sons and I were walking down a sidewalk in Columbus and lo and behold, here came Bishop Fernandes walking toward us. No doubt by the end of the day he had been at about a dozen different places and events.  

He also values the past.  More than once he has spoken glowingly of things gone by, including here in the US.  As well as more traditional Catholicism it's worth mentioning.  Which is why this video is hardly surprising, but put against the modern Francis Era Church as a whole, it's a delight.  It's him reading the Declaration of Independence.  Just because and our 250th birthday and all. Which I think, to quote the cricket, is just swell:

It's worth noting that initially he was asked to read a portion of the Declaration, but decided himself to read the entire thing.  Which is a very Bishop Fernandes thing to do.  

Musing on Dignity

As folks are spending more time unpacking the latest encyclical than I ever will, I noticed something. Something I've seen a lot of in the Church, even before we came into the Church all those years ago. It's the emphasis on Human Dignity, almost as a hub around which all considerations, including the Gospel, must forever rotate.

Now, some Protestant traditions, usually evangelical free church congregational ones, have what is flippantly known as 'Once Saved, Always Saved.' It's a fusion of Calvinist and Arminian theology. Unlike Calvinism, my free will ultimately decides if I accept Christ or not. No irresistible grace there. But unlike Arminianism, where I can thus lose my salvation, it is preserved instead, just as Calvinism teaches. No matter what I do. Once I freely sign on the dotted line, it's off to heaven I go. Not that I should do bad, or not do good. It just doesn't matter. I can rape, pillage and murder and it's off to heaven. Something both traditional Arminianism and Calvinism would reject, BTW.

When I see the modern Church's emphasis on Human Dignity full stop, especially within the context of the post-war Me Generation mentality, it seems like a materialist version of that; a sort of 'Once Dignity, Always Dignity.' It matters not what I do. My dignity (read: salvation if it was from a religious angle) is first and foremost what matters and it's mine, all mine, no matter what, and nothing can possibly be true if it challenges that fact. I can rape, pillage and murder, and it's still all about my dignity here in the world. It seems like Once Saved, Always Saved, but for a secularized, post-Christian era.

And yes, I know that we do have a dignity born of the fact that we are created in God's image and likeness. But historically, God's unending love, forbearance and endless blessings was not a blank check. Which was always the problem with Once Saved, Always Saved. I'm not so sure it's less of a problem when we secularize it and make it all about me and my dignity in the here and now. Especially if we still believe in eternal consequences for our various life choices. After all, what does it gain me to maintain my dignity and lose my soul? It would seem scant comfort in such an afterlife to say 'At least I have my dignity.' Assuming we still believe in such things.

The Easter Triduum

Therefore onto the most important of things. I'll be back after Easter.  Until then then, God's blessings on everyone, thanks for stopping by, and a blessed and happy Easter to all. 

So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He appeared to be going further, but they constrained him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.  Luke 24.28-29

Tis Lent

It's that time of year again. Growing up, my favorite time of the year was Christmas, bar none.  There were other special happenings for us, even if we weren't a family awash in endless traditions.  We had them, but my dad's chaotic work schedule on the railroad made it tough to have regular annual traditions.  Still, they were there.  Christmas, and Thanksgiving whenever we could get it.  Usually something around July 4th, but not always.  We didn't cook out much.  There was our annual trip to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio.  And oddly, the annual viewing of The Wizard of Oz was almost on that level.  Dad would make chocolate and peanut butter fudge, and one year he bought a candy kit.  Go figure.  But above them all was Christmas. Though over the years, I began to fancy fall more than any season. 

Nevertheless, as a new Christian, I must admit Easter began to grow on me.  That really took off when I started attending the Florida church where I met my wife.  Not just because of her, but because they had their annual Sunrise Service (a popular tradition in Protestant churches). And it happened that their church and parsonage was on property that bordered a lake. The chairs were out, the cross was on the shore, and I can still remember seeing the sun come up over the palm trees.  Catholic though you might be, you have to admit just the sound of it seems pretty darn awesome.  And it was.  And it made Easter seem all the bigger deal than it ever had been.

Of course coming into the Catholic Church brought it all to a new level.  Sadly, I was taken by how many old world Catholic traditions weren't maintained, at least in our neck of the woods.  Yet the basics are there. And in Catholicism, the basics are still leaps and bounds beyond what most Protestant, and especially Evangelical, churches will ever experience. 

One of the strangest developments has been my appreciation of Lent. I'll admit not all Catholic practices have made a big impact on me.  But this has.  Something about it seems rooted; grounded if you will.  A reminder that be it living in a cave, a stone cottage, a third world shack, or a Manhattan skyscraper, or whatever fantasies the future does or doesn't hold, it all comes back down to the same reality - we're dust.  At this stage in my life, watching more and more I know pass, and seeing very few of my family left, that isn't just a quaint mantra.  It's to remind us what is and isn't important and real.

So to that end, I try very hard to follow Lent to the best of my abilities. Which are usually pretty lousy I must admit.  Truth be told, the hardest thing is what to give up.  At the end of the day, owing to my personality and just where our life has been over the years, there aren't many things I do on a regular basis.  Perhaps it's bad of me, but I've always jealously guarded my time with my family and my boys and would never do or not do something to compromise that.  But outside of that?  As I've said before, I have no hobbies, no ongoing regular interests, nothing I'm terribly invested in that doesn't include necessary things, nor any food or snack or indulgence I must regularly have.  That includes things I do, but on such an irregular basis that giving them up would seem like a typical month long hiatus. Most things I give up are things I'd almost have to start doing just to have them to give up. 

And no, the old 'replace it with something to do' doesn't cut it.  I get the whole 'giving up' part, and think it's valuable.  So each year finds me hitting my head against the wall trying to figure out just what thing I don't always to seldom ever do that I do enough for it to warrant being given up for the season.  Without, again, hamstringing some crucial aspect of life, especially time with the kids and family I have left. 

Well, this year I had a eureka moment.  I would give up Facebook and similar social media outlets.  I don't live on them, but I use them for material for the old blog, plus there are several pages that are interest based.  It is a bit of a cheat, since Facebook is the only one I belong to.  Others, like TikTok or Twitter have never interested me.  Though I will got to them if someone sends a link or reference or such.  But I do enough on Facebook - much of it being interest pages like history or movies or Beatles and the like - that I can give it up and feel like I'm not really cheating.  

It does come with a caveat: that there area a few things - like our own city government - that only operate through Facebook.  And sometimes, such as changes in services such as trash collection or weather alerts, only come through that.  So in those cases, where certain companies or institutions I interact with only go through Facebook, I reserve the right to go there and respond accordingly.  But nothing else.  Unless I'm informed they uploaded a photo of the grandkiddos. That will ever be a dispensation. Thus: 

But I will avoid all other pages, and that includes the few Catholic pages I still follow.  Which, with a couple exceptions, will be its own blessing.  There is one point to consider.  I seldom follow the MSM anymore.  Local channels in the morning, mostly to see weather and traffic, and through the week we'll catch the first half hour of the national morning news shows before getting on with the day.  But that's it. I get most of my news now from the Internet.  Not Internet pages, but people on social media who link to or reference various news stories.  When they do, then I'll look up the story and see what is going on.  But the MSM is so post-truth/post-journalism, I no longer waste much time with it.

So with that said, the number of stories I'll be exposed to will likely drop through the floor in the next weeks.  I'll still see them, since there are still blogs I visit that I don't count as part of the FB style social media.  But I'm sure there will be a drop.  There already has been on the blog in general, owing to life changes and new adventures and new chapters and all.  But this should see things really slow down.

There are a couple posts I've been kicking around for some time, and a couple follow ups I'll try to get out.  I might try to blog on frivolous things just to keep the habit going.  I'm sure there will be the odd story that doesn't require those social media sites to hear about (I recall the eye opening Kavanaugh reveal).  But on the whole, expect things to slow down from where they've already slowed down to.  In the meantime happy and blessed Lent to all.  I'll be around, if not as often. Just remember, Easter is not too far.  

It must be Catholicism

Mike Lewis, over at Where Peter Is, chimes in about the whole kerfuffle in Charlotte.  That is where some documents were apparently leaked (a popular trend I'm no fan of) that suggested a willingness by Bishop Martin of Charlotte to go after the Latin Mass in a way that would make McCarthy blush.  There was backlash, not surprisingly.  

The whole assault on the Latin Mass and the traditions of the Church, that reached a fever pitch during the pontificate of Pope Francis, is one of those things that reminds me I'm Catholic. Because as goofy as Christians can be in living up to Jesus' observations about the Children of Light v. the Children of this age, Catholicism usually wins hands down.  

At a time when the world is pulling itself apart, suffering and misery exploding, paganism is coming back in vogue, global elitists are musing about euthanasia, human sacrifice and even cannibalism, and a growing number of people are leaving the Faith or staying and insisting they don't buy most of the BS anyway - an entire swath of Church leadership has decided the important thing is to abolish the Latin Mass.   You know, that part of Catholicism that even non-Catholics have traditionally associated with the Church.  It's like the Allies saying in 1944 that before we storm Normandy, we need to take care of these squirrels in the yard. 

Eh.  That's the Catholic Church for you.  Lewis' take is everything you would expect from Lewis or any contributor at Where Peter Is.  But most who visit my blog have likely seen responses from those upset at Bishop Martin's actions, so this is another point of view.  

FWIW, the only reason I went there was to see if anyone at the site has mentioned Pope Leo's June 1st emphasis on the families, babies, moms and dads and all, as the rest of the world moved into the month of pride as virtue where sex is concerned.  So far, unless they have a hidden page, the answer would be no. 

Habemas Papam

By now the news is spreading.  My oldest said there was the white smoke.  He was right.  We'll have to see what happens next.  Prayers all around.  

A special day

Today is the Feast of St. Francis, my patron saint.  I've written about him many times over the years. He was one of those 'anchor' figures for me.  Even in my secular, agnostic, trying to be an atheist days, I conceded St. Francis was quite the fellow.  Though it's worth noting I was never an unbeliever who tried to insist all believers were stupid or in some way wretched and evil.  For instance, I didn't care for the type to insist Mother Theresa was really a racist con.  But then I've always rejected our modern age's tendency to find any way to tear down the good guys while bending over backwards to find excuses for the bad guys so we don't have to confront them.

Because of that, as a non-believer I could still admire St. Francis.  And as a Protestant, including pastor, I had no problem referencing him, mentioning him in sermons, or even having those famous prayers attributed to him hanging in my office. 

So when I entered the Church, it took me all of half a second to figure out who my patron saint would be.  No matter how crazy it has been since we became Catholic, I admit going back to Saint Francis, sometimes more than anything else, is a small place of refuge for me.  Becoming Catholic having made the relationship more than merely gazing at a framed prayer on a wall.  

As a bonus, it's also Ship in a Bottle day! Like you didn't know that.  For those envious of perhaps the most difficult hobby in the history of hobbies, here's an envy inducing little video for your viewing pleasure:

Prayers for Gary Sinise and his family

May his memories be made of times like this

Gary Sinise has announced that his son, Mac, died of cancer this January.  It was after a fire year battle.  He was diagnosed with cancer in the same year Gary's wife was diagnosed.  In one of those 'why this guy God, he's one of the good guys!', you're reminded that it rains on the just and the unjust. 

Gary Sinise is one of those rare 'good guys of Hollywood.'  He's our generation's Bob Hope.  Though I fear that Hope had far more love and appreciation for his devotion to our military than Sinise has.  Keeping himself as far from partisan politics as he can, he nonetheless has devoted himself to our veterans and  to doing everything he can to support them and aid them in their troubles. 

He's best known, of course, for his role in Forrest Gump as the longsuffering Lieutenant Dan.  One of the most memorable performances of the 1990s, and possibly of all time.  He took that role and his identification with the character and turned it into his devotion to our armed forces in the years after the 9/11 attacks.  He hasn't looked back since.

I know.  People experience such tragedies all the time.  Why single this one out?  I guess, again, because he's one of the good guys.  Like the late Roddy McDowall, he's known to be someone who has no enemies in an industry awash with enemies.  And people from all sides of the ever more contentious aisles appear to respect him, as well they should.

So it's always tough when people who have devoted themselves selfishly for the cause of good appear to get hit and hit and hit again with tragedies.  It's times like this that you're inclined to say "Not fair God, why not drop these horrors on someone who has it coming, and I can compose a list pretty quickly.'  Until, again, you realize that's now how it works.  

For just like making the stupid mistake of calling hellfire down on the rich without realizing to some in the world I am rich, the same goes for the good guys and the bad guys.  Whatever I think of others who I feel deserve such trauma in their lives more than Sinise, there are others far better than me who could say the same about me.  But then, that's what makes them far better than me. 

In the end, on this side of heaven, we think of Corrie ten Boom's illustration of this life as a needlepoint  work of art knitted by God.  We see the business end on the rear of the picture - loose ends, dangling threads, knotted confusion.  God sees the beautiful picture on the other side. 

Whether that helps Mr. Sinise, I couldn't say.  He speaks of his son's strong Catholic Faith. Apparently Gary is also Catholic, having entered the Church in 2010.  I pray that faith of theirs will see them through the coming months and years as they deal with one of the worst things a person can experience, and the worst thing a parent can experience.  

When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivers him out of them all.  Psalm 34.17-19

Amy Welbourn does the Synod on Synodality

Go here to read her thoughts.  Amy Welbourn was one of the early stars of St. Blogs.  Virtually every Catholic blog sang her praises.  It isn't difficult to see why. Her take is worth the read.  

I typically don't comment on inside baseball stuff where the Church is concerned.  Though I'm not blind to what the entire 'synod' is all about.   Basically, the Church is trying to become what mainline Protestant denominations became.  Why it is doing this is anyone's guess.  Though if we ask too many questions, we might not like the answers.  

Pope Francis is more political activist than pope

Though he's hardly alone in that.  It's just Catholicism, unlike Protestantism, has a few restrictions that make simply tossing out an old teaching you no longer like a bit difficult.  And therein lies the tension I think.

Pope Francis uncritically takes leftwing talking points and narratives at face value.  He just does.  On those rarest of occasions where he calls out a leftwing sin - say homosexuality or abortion - he's ever so careful to make sure he only condemns the sin, not the sinner.  And then, to hedge the bet, he also makes it clear it doesn't really matter if you endorse or engage in these sins.  Not optimal perhaps, but certainly not a deal breaker. All one big, happy family.  The important thing is that you accept at face value, as he accepts at face value, an endless string of leftwing narratives, platforms and agendas: global warming, immigration, gun control, systemic racism, the latest Covid-19 solutions, and on and on.

His wrath is forever aimed at faithful Catholics who believe that Catholicism is somehow uniquely important.  What's worse, they believe its teachings are really non-negotiable.  Or they attend the Latin Mass, which seems to bother Pope Francis more than Larry Flynt bothered Jerry Falwell.  And if you question these various leftwing narratives or agendas, he comes down on you like white on rice.  Not only does he condemn your position, but he's not adverse to hyper-politicized rhetoric, and even some select judgementalism aimed at your motives and inner thoughts. 

Sorry, but that's as useful to Catholicism, or even authentic Christianity, in the modern world as an accordion is for deer hunting.  The fact that the majority of Catholics no longer believe entire reams of Catholic teaching doesn't seem to bother him.  In fact, what appears to bother him is that there are Catholics who care that the majority of Catholics no longer believe in Catholic teaching.  And Catholics who jettison Church morals for some abortion, sex, drugs and hedonism?  Again, it doesn't seem to bother him.  If confronted, that's when we learn how little he wants to judge anyone. 

Sometimes it's like Ohio State's football team letting Michigan's coach coach us in the big game.  I don't think Pope Francis cares if I, or anyone really, is necessarily Catholic.   If we are and agree with his politics as first priority, that's fine. Maybe even the best.  But he's made it clear by his rhetoric and his priorities that he'd rather you reject God altogether and never grace the doors of a Church as long as you agree with him on his political stances.   Hate to say it so bluntly, but I have as difficult a time seeing Pope Francis as a religious leader as I do seeing late night activists as comedians. 

Mark Shea is absolutely ...

 Correct: 

Credit where it is due.  

The Christian Faith is a religion of doctrine and belief.  It is Truth incarnate.  But belief is a verb, not a noun.  It's only valid in that you live your faith.  See James.  And living the faith requires everything the Lord commands.  It requires mercy and charity.  It also demands we not follow the sins of the world.  It also insists we don't enable those who indulge in the sins of the world.  

There are many aspects of being a true, practicing believer.  And one of the most important is that we make sure not to step over Lazarus on our way to the party.  Nor do we cross the street to avoid the man beaten by robbers.  Rather, like the Good Samaritan, we cross the road to help, to heal, to aid, to stand beside and minister to.  And always so that the sinners or tax collectors we encounter will leave their lives of sin and believe.  And by belief, don't' forget, we mean a verb, not a noun. 

FWIW, if this is what Mark spent his time focusing on, you'd find no greater supporter of Mark Shea's ministry endeavors than this former Protestant/Agnostic. 

I didn't become Catholic for this

My wife's employee diversity training was more religious than this

When we entered the Church in 2006, the torch had already passed to a new generation of Catholics.  As I've said many times, this was not that fundamentalist Scott Hahn's Catholic Church.  These were the Boomers.  The post-Vatican II gang.  Oh, they may have been born before Vatican II, but already the Church was being led by those who would take it through the Vatican II reforms.  

But more than Vatican II Catholics, they're post WWII liberal culture Christians.  That is, Christianity  is a right fine belief, but no better than all the other beliefs.  After all, all religious beliefs were just made up by ancient humans.  As my son's Mythology 222 class demonstrated, the Bible, the Iliad and the Aeneid are about the same in terms of myth and fantasy.  

These Catholics looked at our testimony and more or less scratched their heads.  Sometimes you could almost see the puzzlement in their eyes.  Lost your friends and colleagues, investment accounts and retirement funds, and came into the Church with no professional prospects ... just to become Catholic?  Why that was a strange thing to do!  The welcome mat that awaited the Hahn generation of clergy converts had long gone the way of the dodo bird. 

Shortly after becoming pope, Pope Francis met with Protestant leaders and echoed the same attitude.  Stay where you are and get to God in your own lovely traditions.  That's when my boys concluded ol'Dad had screwed up royally.  There we were, me a pastor, wife a teacher in a private school, kids with one of us at any given time, yearly vacations and time together and a nice close life centered around church and family.  Then BAM!  Out the windows,  after school care, scraping by, ramen noodles and rice for dinner, vacations confined to the local park, picking which bills to pay in a month, and all to enter the Catholic Church.  The same Catholic Church whose members and leaders made it clear that it was the strangest thing we ever could have done.  Clearly dad isn't the one to trust in such things. 

That's when we went to the Orthodox Church.  At least there the Orthodox still subscribe to the idea that Orthodoxy is the true Church, and those who make the journey, if they do for the right reasons, are absolutely right to do so.  Actual sermons on heaven and hell, on sin and holiness, and on the necessity of remaining in God's proper church showed my boys that the "Catholicism is our meat, but any meat is fine" shtick was not a universal attitude in modern Christianity, even if it was the majority opinion they encountered in our parish. 

Because of many reasons, I couldn't reconcile with Orthodoxy as a Christian home, though I appreciate the life preserver they were for us.  Therefore when our old Catholic parish brought a firebrand priest from Africa who was more than prepared to call sin sin, and the Catholic Church the True Church, we returned. 

Sadly, we came back just as Covid hit.  A year later, he was gone.  No clue why.  He showed up one Sunday, said Monday he was no longer our priest, and perhaps he might see some of us in heaven someday.  That was that.  To this day nobody has told us what happened.  I do know his fire and brimstone insistence on the truths of the Catholic Faith rubbed some the wrong way, and he was in for some heavy criticisms in the time we were there.

Be that as it may, we remained because I'm still convinced that the Catholic Church, more than any other tradition, is the right tradition.  Obviously that is minority opinion today, and not one that appears to be held by our bishops, many of our leaders, or even our pope.  It certainly isn't the attitude of many, if not most, modern Catholics.  Some even seem offended at the idea that Catholicism has any unique value that can't be found in a thousand different beliefs. 

Nonetheless, at my age, it's time to settle in for the final curtain.  Our financial fate was sealed when the economy collapsed in 2008 and we found ourselves under a bishop who would rather see the Church sink into the 7th level of Hell than see a former Protestant minister so much as scrub toilets in the diocese. Since then, it's been Indiana Jones one step ahead of the boulder.  As I joke with people we know, my retirement plan is to grab my chest at 65 and do a Fred Sanford. 

But we did all that to become Catholic because, again, I believe it is true. And not just true, but also non-optional. No, I don't think every non-Catholic in the world will burn.  But I don't think the belief that not every non-Catholic will burn means anyone can be anything and not burn.  

Just because I know not everyone who smokes will die of cancer or heart disease doesn't mean I hand out cigarettes and tell everyone to light up.  Something I don't feel our bishops, leaders or pope think.  I think for them, it's far more important that everyone at the best parties think they're cool for handing out the cigarettes, rather than take a firm stand on the need to stop smoking.  Whatever that might mean in terms of people's health. 

A simple lesson in Christian consistency

 If this is heretical, and goodness knows I saw many Catholics who screamed that it is:

Then this image of George Floyd at The Catholic University of America is heretical too:

Or vice versa.  

See how easy it is?  Of course people could argue there are valid messages in each of the portraits, and I'm fine with that.  As long as we listen to both sides and assume best motives with each.  As long as we apply the same Christian standards whether something glorifies the Left or the Right.  

The minute we make it clear we're applying different standards based purely on ideology, politics, social activism, personal opinions, or what have you, then we've just handed the World the ball and told it to go ahead and score the next goal.  And after over a century of losing to the World, it might be time for the people of the Way to start considering new tactics so the Church can win again. 

Before the Judgment Seat of God

So yesterday we had a visiting priest from the Pontifical College Josephinum.  He's been there before.  A jovial fellow, he came into the priesthood later in life.  Therefore, he had quite a record of real world living, if you get my drift.  He's not afraid to point that out.

But he always points it out as a reminder that real world living is not what we were made for.  We were made to love God with all we are, and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Not love in the Kinsey and Dr. Spock sort of way.  That is, love for the sake of getting what we want out of someone, or love meaning we let them play in the traffic because we don't want to hurt their feelings by telling them no. 

Actual agape love is what we're for.  That's the unconditional divine love, often translated charity in older biblical translations, that one years in St. Paul's famous 'discourse on love' in his letter to the Corinthians.  Real love, pure love, divine love.  Not the junk we have today in our society.

Of course, there is a catch.  For all of God's love, there comes a day of reckoning.  A day in which we account for the gifts God has freely given.  And that's what yesterday's homily was about.  In a manner that wouldn't shame a fundamentalist tent revival, the priest reminded us that some day we will die, and then the judgment.

And he emphasized it does no good to appeal to the Supreme Court for what we can do.  The World is frequently wrong.  We're called to do God's will based on what is clearly taught by way of God's own revelation.  And if we choose not to, we will stand before God on the Day of Judgment and have to account for our choice. 

Yes, we have the Sacraments.  We have Confession and Last Rights (he emphasized this, and the need for regular confession).  But at the end, Christ will come like a thief.  We ourselves may die slowly and with time to spare and prepare, or not.  The point is, to ask every day if I am prepared to meet my Maker.  And to live every day to make sure the answer is yes.  Because on that day, there is no blame, there is no finger pointing, there is no corporate guilt of others, there is us before the Throne of God. 

Wow.  The actual Gospel preached.  Yes, he said this with a smile, and managed to make it sound almost disarming.  But the words had power.  It reminded me how far we sometimes are from our faith nowadays.  More politics than anything.  Sometimes social issues and agendas.  Often personal opinions.  All of which have their place of course.  But sometimes I think even if we believe we're fighting the World, we're only doing it on the World's terms, not the Faith's.

I contrasted that homily to what I hear so often from so many Church leaders, including our pope.  I think that priest, too, was aware of the recent debacle with President Biden and Pope Francis.  I think he made it more than clear we're not given the right to declare ourselves good Catholics while rejecting the revelation of God, and we do so at eternal risk.  For that is what it is.  And we either believe that, or there's no sense wasting time waking up on a Sunday morning when we could roll over and get some extra sleep. 

St. Michael as retired general

I wrote last year on the observation that the Catholic Church seems to have put St. Michael in the cupboard along with the old cookie cutters and other archangels, while Satanism is becoming all the rage in our country.  Thank goodness a growing number of Christians and their leaders are pretty sure angels and devils were just literary devices and myths fabricated by ancient humans who didn't have science!

The great warring angel has been sent to pasture by modernity, a war veteran retired from service, sent to the old angel's home. I'm sure the Satanic legions are fine with that development. 

It took the most educated and scientifically sophisticated generation in history to miss what any other age of humanity could have seen a hundred miles away. Perhaps it's because we think we're better than them for not seeing it that we don't see the obvious.  Everything in our world today suggests it's we who are the blind generation, and those ancients huddled around the fire pit and longhouse hearth were the ones with eyes. 

For a bonus, here is the always informative Fish Eaters with a nice little write up on Michaelmas from that more Christian influenced world of old.  Complete, of course, with some cultural trappings and even a few recipes!  

Once again Pope Francis calls out the sin of gluttony in an age of anorexia

Yep. Says so right here.  One thing that has perplexed me since I became Catholic is the obsession many Catholics have with bashing puritanism and fundamentalism.  While I'm sure those exist in some pockets of Catholicism, they are hell and gone from the problems plaguing the majority of modern era Catholicism.

I've quoted before an old - and Catholic - classmate of mine.  When it came to chasing girls, he used to quip that it's better to find an atheist girl than a religious girl ... but Catholic girls are a safe bet.  Sadly, in my meager contribution to the 1980s social scene, I found little to suggest his appraisal was wrong. 

And it's not just historically rooted Catholic moral teachings that the majority of modern Catholics happily flip the bird to.  Study after study shows that a growing number, and in some cases majority, of modern Catholics in the dying West no longer believe in a swath of theological doctrines as well. 

The Trinity?  Virgin Birth?  Transubstantiation?  Yeah, right.  Hell?  Where the hell did that go?  Universalism, implicitly contemplated if not openly endorsed, is all the rage.  I've seen it in multiple Catholic forums as well as our parish, where removing references to hell in traditional prayers has become as Catholic as fish fries during Lent. 

Despite all of this, Pope Francis joins the common lament that the problem we have in 1930s Germany is all the damned communists.  I'm sure communists in Germany in the 30s were a problem.  But were they the problem?  Picking on someone or something of little consequence in order to avoid like the plague a real problem is as good as being a major contributor to the real problem.

Catholics - including Pope Francis - are going to have to admit the narrative of the Global Left is wrong, and it isn't those isolated pockets of traditional (though not leftwing) fundamentalists who are the problem, but the growing swaths of post-Christian, Marxist inspired revolutionaries hell-bent on eliminating life, liberty and the pursuit of the Gospel who are the problem.  Until they do, expect the Vatican II era Church to continue to be defined by its gushing numbers and impotent stance against the real problems plaguing the world today.  

My immediate thoughts on the news about Pope Francis and the Latin Mass

More to follow 

My Sunday wish for the Catholic Church

Is that it would start converting the world to the Gospel of Jesus Christ instead of trying to mold the Church into merely a Catholic version of the world.  

That's all. 

 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. John 10.16

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his soul?  Mark 8.36

Today is Palm Sunday

The beginning of Holy Week.  For Western Christians that is.  The Orthodox, forever stubborn where changing to align closer to their Western brethren is concerned, will be following in a few weeks.  But the days and the week itself are largely the same: the most holy and sacred time of the year.  

Not Christmas, despite what St. Madison Ave. might tell us.  Or even Rankin/Bass.  Christmas was actually a Johnny-come-lately in the big holy days of the early Church.  Driven largely by the Alexandrian school's obsession with unpacking the deeper implications of the Incarnation, it was logical that such an emphasis would lead people to want more focus on the front of the Jesus story to set the proper stage for what ends up on the cross and in the empty tomb. 

Some say only two Gospels have birth narratives.  That's not true.  John also has a birth narrative, albeit from a decidedly high philosophical perspective.  Nonetheless, Mark gives scant little mention at all, other than saying this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, on we go to John the Baptist.  But the Passion?  The Crucifixion?  The empty tomb?  Those are in all four, and were key to the early Church's understanding of what this new Way was all about. 

For modern Christians, as we see ourselves in the age of Apostasy when so many believers are abandoning the faith altogether, or are twisting and turning, jettisoning and acquiring in the face of a rising tide of hatred of God, Christ an His Church, it's worth ponding the more obvious of angles to take this day. Today is the Triumphal Entry, as it's sometimes called.  That's Jesus arriving in Jerusalem to the cheers and adoration of the crowds Beatlemania style.  And we know what happens next.  By Good Friday, many of those cheering Him today will be screaming 'Crucify Him!'  

Will that be us?  Right now many are still holding firm, but how long?  We've seen so many jump ship, abandon the values and teachings of the Faith, compromise, look the other way, as our nation, civilization and world turn its rage and anger and hatred of the Gospel into full warfare.  Will Christ find any left who are faithful?  No doubt He will.  But who will they be?  Per Jesus, they will be the few, not the many.  

So perhaps this year, as we look to Good Friday and its almost clichéd application that we hear every year, it might be time to rethink what it was telling a Church already knee deep in Roman persecution.  For the stories of the Jesus event were being written down in Gospel form when Christians were learning that Rome was no longer a safe haven.  Many would gladly bow before Caesar, offer sacrifices at Caesar's altar, and even betray their brethren to save their skins. If they had to deny Christ to save their lives, they would.

We love the stories of the saints and martyrs of history, the ones who paid that full measure of devotion for the Gospel.  But for each of those who did so, as many if not more didn't.  And that's as it always is in history.  For evil to Triumph, good men have to make lame excuses, quit, buckle, surrender and look the other way.   Good men never do nothing.  They always do something to open the gates of history's next reign of terror.

Just some thinking as we look at the remarkable - and frightening - turn of events we've witnessed in just the last six years, much less the last  year.  Satan is cracking his knuckles, itching for the great infernal harvest.  Those of us who are loud in calling out the turn of evil we're watching, how will we do?  Will we persevere?  When the time comes will we, like most of the disciples, turn tail and run?  Indeed, as so many are doing today, will we join one disciple and betray?  Or will we be the minority, the few, who follow Jesus to the Cross, braving capture and exposure; prepared to take on whatever mandates Christ would have of us? 

Only time will tell. 

Wearing the green

And have a blessed St. Patrick's Day.  Here is a nice bunch of fun info from the always informative Fish Eaters.  Needless to say, a big part of our celebrations will center around the dinner table.  Enjoy the celebrations and remember the reasons.  

THE PILLAR TOWERS OF IRELAND.

DENIS FLORENCE MAC CARTHY

The pillar towers of Ireland, how wondrously they stand

By the lakes and rushing rivers through the valleys of our land;

In mystic file, through the isle, they lift their heads sublime,

These gray old pillar temples, these conquerors of time!

 

Beside these gray old pillars, how perishing and weak

The Roman's arch of triumph, and the temple of the Greek,

And the gold domes of Byzantium, and the pointed Gothic spires,

All are gone, one by one, but the temples of our sires!

 

The column, with its capital, is level with the dust,

And the proud halls of the mighty and the calm homes of the just;

For the proudest works of man, as certainly, but slower,

Pass like the grass at the sharp scythe of the mower!

 

But the grass grows again when in majesty and mirth,

On the wing of the spring, comes the Goddess of the Earth;

But for man in this world no springtide e'er returns

To the labours of his hands or the ashes of his urns!

 

Two favourites hath Time--the pyramids of Nile,

And the old mystic temples of our own dear isle;

As the breeze o'er the seas, where the halcyon has its nest,

Thus Time o'er Egypt's tombs and the temples of the West!

 

The names of their founders have vanished in the gloom,

Like the dry branch in the fire or the body in the tomb;

But to-day, in the ray, their shadows still they cast--

These temples of forgotten gods--these relics of the past!

 

Around these walls have wandered the Briton and the Dane--

The captives of Armorica, the cavaliers of Spain--

Phœnician and Milesian, and the plundering Norman Peers--

And the swordsmen of brave Brian, and the chiefs of later years!

 

How many different rites have these gray old temples known!

To the mind what dreams are written in these chronicles of stone!

What terror and what error, what gleams of love and truth,

Have flashed from these walls since the world was in its youth?

 

Here blazed the sacred fire, and, when the sun was gone,

As a star from afar to the traveler it shone;

And the warm blood of the victim have these gray old temples drunk,

And the death-song of the druid and the matin of the monk.

 

Here was placed the holy chalice that held the sacred wine,

And the gold cross from the altar, and the relics from the shrine,

And the mitre shining brighter with its diamonds than the East,

And the crosier of the pontiff and the vestments of the priest.

 

Where blazed the sacred fire, rung out the vesper bell,

Where the fugitive found shelter, became the hermit's cell;

And hope hung out its symbol to the innocent and good,

For the cross o'er the moss of the pointed summit stood.

 

There may it stand for ever, while that symbol doth impart

To the mind one glorious vision, or one proud throb to the heart;

While the breast needeth rest may these gray old temples last,

Bright prophets of the future, as preachers of the past!