Category: Uncategorized

Fr. Bryce Sibley did a great job with his review of The Passion. His answers to the idiotic criticisms by professional offendees are right on.

It appears that The Curt Jester is now doubling as Moloch to ridicule the Culture of Death. In another post, he gives a great argument against the “abortion is only one issue” excuse. See this:

I wonder if there was a murder in progress and Paul Begala informed a policeman of this fact and the policemen replied “Not right now, I am writing a ticket on this substandard housing.” Would Paul Begala not see that these two things were not equal?

This one will come in handy when dealing with funky dissentors.

It appears that the robed masters on planet California decided that Catholic Charities must provide contraceptive coverage with their prescription insurance. This may have greater implications than one would think. No matter how much good work they may be doing, they cannot do something objectively evil in order to continue it. In other words, they could very well just shut down. Then again, I don’t really expect a Catholic agency in California to obey the Church’s teachings.

Even without considering the sinfulness of contraception, it makes little sense from an insurance standpoint. The purpose of insurance is to protect someone from an unplanned loss. Contraception, being a lifestyle choice, is not really an unplanned expense. Pregnancy may be an unplanned expense, but insurance will cover the medical expenses. Anyway, everyone ends up paying for this in higher premiums, and I for one don’t want to pay for someone to have contraceptive intercourse.

Did you think that the McDonald’s coffee labels were crazy? Check this out.

I only wish that every priest would write letters to parishoners like this when the occasion arises. Then again, our pastor does on occasion put some things in the bulletin to remind us about our obligations.

My parish rented out a theatre for a private showing of The Passion. The group leaders of the Frassati Society took the opportunity to reserve some tickets and give us a chance to get them. It is well worth seeing. I do want to take the time to give my impression of it.

You need to discuss it with other people who saw the movie. There are so many symbols depicted that it is nearly impossible to catch them all. When we went out to eat afterward, people at our table mentioned a number of things that I either didn’t notice or otherwise didn’t grasp.

Here’s a question: have you ever found yourself tempted to look at the sins of others and say “What a bunch of $@@#@#!!”? I felt that way towards the Romans who were beating Jesus with the whips and laughing about it. It took considerable effort to remember that those lashes and those nails were my sins. Interestingly enough, I didn’t feel the same way about the Jewish leaders. They at least weren’t laughing about Jesus’ pain. I maintain that the anti-Semitism charges are a crock.

The movie is very well done, and it gives a good impression of the horror of sin. The time flies by despite the fact that things don’t move very quickly in the movie. I think it’s a great way to begin Lent.

This article makes me want to drive to San Jose and kick this guy’s butt with a metal shoe. Bishop Patrick McGrath is reported as having said:

While the primary source material of the film is attributed to the four gospels, these sacred books are not historical accounts of the historical events that they narrate. They are theological reflections upon the events that form the core of Christian faith and belief.

Uh, excuse me!! Let’s see what Vatican II said in Dei Verbum:

19. Holy Mother Church has firmly and with absolute constancy held, and continues to hold, that the four Gospels just named, whose historical character the Church unhesitatingly asserts, faithfully hand on what Jesus Christ, while living among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation until the day He was taken up into heaven (see Acts 1:1).

So, what’s this again about Catholics not believing the Gospels to be historically true.

People around my workplace have renamed The Passion to The Movie, per one of my co-workers. If you ask someone if they have seen “The Movie,” everyone knows exactly what movie you are talking about. Anyway, I just wanted to pass along this collection of positive reviews.

Apparently, Steve Kellmeyer has attracted so much attention that one of the Catholic Exchange editors has entered the fray. Students are receiving poor formation from people who themselves received poor formation. When classes are available to assist, then they are either of poor quality, poorly attended, or both.

I can’t blame people for not wanting to go to what often passes for Catholic formation. I’ve been to my share of missions led by somebody who was flakier than a bowl of Raisin Bran. I’ve seen an “evangelization” program that was devoid of any meaningful content. In the Diocese of Memphis, they were offering “spirituality” classes in their Liturgical Ministry Institute that gave me the impression that they were spooky new age by their title and content listings. Also, rather than St. Frances de Sales, St. Teresa of Avila, or other well-known spiritual writers, we were offered Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton.

When this stuff is what we are given to start from, it’s no wonder we can’t pass on the faith to children. We don’t know it ourselves. However, who is ultimately to blame for this . . . . .

We are. We put up with this because we really don’t care. If we did, we’d be demanding proper formation. We wouldn’t have people saying “That’s so wonderful.” to mediocre presentations of the Faith with the intellectual content of the brain of an earthworm.

Besides that, we wouldn’t dare go to or send our children to universities that claim to be Catholic but are undermining the Faith. We would take the time to find out about the issues in the Church, and therefore, we would know about the problems with “Catholic” schools. We would investigate the schools we were considering, and an answer of “uh, well” or “academic freedom” to questions about a mandatum wouldn’t be acceptable to us. Those schools would either have no enrollment or would have the enrollment that matches the secular institution it has become.

On another note, I’d love to see some pastor have the guts to say “If you all don’t start learning the faith, then the Catholic school won’t be able to do its job. Get some formation or we’re closing the school.” There would be an uproar and a half. However, it may be a necessary move in some areas.

The sad part of it is that this problem, which took decades to create, will take decades more to solve. The reason for this is that those problems have been allowed to fester. The longer we let them continue, the harder they are to stop. Then again, there is one part of the solution that is easy. Get some good, solid materials, and start learning.

Don’t depend on your parish priest, religious education program, or your diocese to do it. In 1997, a committee of bishops reported on the poor quality of religion textbooks. In 2003, another committee reported the same thing. What’s between the lines here? After six years, nothing has been done by our leadership about a known, serious problem. The only way we will get needed reforms in the Church is for the laity to learn and live the faith.

I’m a day late on this. As you know, yesterday was Ash Wednesday. We are now beginning the discipline of Lent. It’s our time to grow in holiness. We can use the penance of Lent to learn self-denial.

Yet, we can see how distant the world is from all that is happening. As I drove down Germantown Parkway on the way to Mass, I could see that business as usual was being conducted. Even the sex shop that I have the misfortune to pass going down the highway (and say a Hail Mary for their conversion) is just carrying on, helping people indulge in their slavery to sensual pleasures (Then again, did I really think they would observe Lent?).

I will see this again at the Easter Triduum. I will be at the high point of the whole year. Once again, I will be fasting on Good Friday. I will be eagerly awaiting the celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Vigil. Yet, in the world, it’s business as usual. They carry on as though nothing special were happening save for an opportunity to sell candy. Is anyone even aware that an important event in their eternal destiny is being celebrated?

It all shows that we have much work to do in the way of evangelization. We may be numb to the fact that the world around us conducts business as usual, but in truth it is very, very tragic. Perhaps we have lit our lamps and hidden them under a bowl for too long.