Leftopia,..the Magical Land of Stupid...

And now for another installment of speaking with Lefties, the show where truth is orwellian and facts are hidden worse than in a 'Where's Waldo?' book!  (Funny anecdote, I always thought 'Where's Waldo?' was only in french,..'Ou est Charlie?'..Oh well...:))  This past week, during our CHRISTMAS time off, (not holiday time, or wintersoltice time, or winter festival time,..got that off my chest!)  I was innundated with emails concerning my so-called closed mindedness and lack of pastoral concern (whatever the hell that means,..) for issues of equality and justice!  You see about two years ago, I wrote a post on the evils of socialism and how it is incompatible with Catholic thought.  It basically denies the theological reality of original sin, and props up man to act as his own saviour.  Liberation theology became its bastard offspring, after having an ongoing affair with marxism.  (see here )  Now these people penetrate the establishment on all levels, politically, socially and yes even inside the Church.  They espouse Cardinal Bernadin's seamless garment crap and instead of looking at truths through a Thomistic lens, and then following suit, they equate everything in the same basket.  Example, 'Yes candidate 'A' is pro-life, but he's not taking care of the south american coffee pickers getting minimum wage!  So that must cancel it all out!' You see the logic?  No?  Because there is none!  

A few weeks back I was introduced to a Fox news commentator named Steven Crowder.  American by birth, he was raised in Canada, actually Montreal and is blowing the whistle on all this stuff!  His insights are intelligent, witty and wait for it,...FACTUAL!  Yes, the left having an issue with truth has a hard time getting its act together especially if it does not suit their marxist agenda!  Some examples,..(Let me set this up, typical university professor enters classroom wearing Palestinian 'kaffiya,' a Jack Layton hugging Barrack Obama pin and begins to lecture on the human rights violations of the US in the Middle East, Israel on everything and 'capitalism' as the 'Mein Kempf' of economic theory!  So, the students eat this stuff up!  I know, I was one of them!)  Some of the myths include;

Pope Pius XII was a silent nazi sympathizer who did nothing during WWII.  FACT:  Pope Pius XII did more than any other person to save Jews from extermination.  (see here)  The theory that he was anti-semitic arose from a protestant playwright 5 years later after his death!!!!!!  The chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli converted to Christianity because he was moved by Pius's defense of the Jewish people!!! Lefties, on this one you lose, you only expose yourselves not only as ignorant, but as a malicious parasitical cancer that grafts itself onto society!  (Yes, this one I take personally, because I've had to endure many a 'spirit' of VII priest propogating that lie!)

Israel is an evil country which must give back land to the Palestinians in the occupied territories.  FACT;  Can anybody name one country that wasn't formed through violence?  Number two, can anybody name one country whereby when it was formed, another country was formed specifically for the people living there at that time!  (Jordan was formed in 1948, for the people eventually known as the Palestinians.  Why eventually?  Because prior to 1948, there was no such f'n thing as a 'Palestinian!' )  It sucks that both people can't live in harmony, it really does, but when the 'Palestinians' refuse negotiations with Israel, thereby claiming it as Islamic land, and will only settle for a ten year truce, (Remember 'prophet' Muhammed, that peaceloving kind of guy, broke his ten year truce in two years instead!) and will never recognize Israel's right to exist!  It really is sad for the Arabs living there, but how about fighting this war through education, reign in your terror groups, or maybe do a little introspection on the metaphysics of Islam?  Just sayin,..The 'Left' love to tell you about how Israel attacked Syria and Egypt in the six day war, but forget to mention that those two countries already amassed their troops right on the bourder!  Wait a minute, after the asskicking Israel gave them, they still gave back land!!!!  Does anyone not see the irony?

Just two examples of pothead stupidity that we are forced fed through CBC, BBC and of course Hollywood, because we know how politically savvy they are, Sean Penn?  C'mon,..not exactly Ben Stein!  Critiquing anything the Obama administration is failing at brands you as rascist!  Back to Crowder,...I'll be putting a link up to his site, and I truly suggest you check out his youtube videos, he even has a 'Quebec Corner!'  I won't even mention that the producers of Jon Stewart's 'Daily Show' basically admitted Stewart's bias in an email concerning Crowder...Ooops,..just did!  Hehehehe...(Look it up!)

Blessed John Paul the Great,.........Ora pro nobis!

L'Eglise Quebecois,..

Living in 'La Belle Province' certainly has its fair share of unique characteristics.  To the outsider, things like the 'language police' (OLF) and Law 101 conjure up images of George Orwell's 1984.  Now of course it isn't really that bad,..but there are times when you just want to,..well,..either scratch your head quizically or just up and move to Ontario!

Growing up,.I was fluently bi-lingual, (tri-lingual if you count Italian as well, but my italian leaves much to be desired,.) and my parents lived in LaSalle which was/is a working class italian influenced section of the greater Montreal area.  My schooling up until 9th grade was done primarily in french and then from grade 10 to grade 12, mostly in english.   When I was a month away from my 18th birthday, I remember it all too well,..the year 1995,..the year of the REFERENDUM.   What happened?  Basically Montreal and the Outaouias regions along with parts of Quebec City voted No!  The rest of the geographic landscape voted OUI!  So let's imagine the Church of Quebexico as it would be today had the seperatists won,..Now for those who understand why politics and the Church in Quebec are intermingled, you need only a little history lesson on Maurice Duplessis.

Quebec,..2011(Fiction)

Montreal's empty Churches have nearly all been sold as the Quebec schism took place shortly after the 1995 referendum,..Pauline Marois was installed as the first Queen of Quebec amidst an internal conflict over whether or not she'll also lead the Quebec Church.  The Churches that weren't sold, also double as mosques, to house Quebec's nearly one quarter muslim population in order to better dialogue, because as long as 'les musulmans' s'exprimes en francais, there is really no problem.  The local Bishops are now elected in by the people to create there own creed and there own objective reality.  The Grand Seminaire has been hijacked by the diocese and turned into a centre for ecumenical dialogue and commitee meetings focusing on pottery, baking and just being nice,..(except to anglos,..)  The english side of the diocese chose to remain with Rome except for a few sellouts adhering to the poltergeist known as the 'spirit' of Vatican II.  Soooo,. Vatican II is ruled intolerable and therefore incompatible with 'le peuple Quebecois.'  Consequently the english are exiled to the deepest part of the west island and oppressed by the Queen Pauline.  The Church headed by Fr Tiffany immediately attempts to ordain woman, marry gays, ban all english, alow abortion/contraception in the name of tolerance, again unless your an anglo whereby they just sterilize you.  Convents are turned into Reiki wellness centres focusing on Tai Chi healing, Yoga and Voodoo.  The Latin Mass has however been banned because its not open enough...All this in the Quebecois Church!  Isn't being open fun?  Vive Pauline!!!

Marie Reine du Monde,.........prier pour nous.

Do Whatever He Tells You,...

The following thoughts, I drew inspiration from Fr Gerry Martineau, my parish priest and his homily about the Blessed Mother.  The more I journey toward wherever God is leading me in life, the more I draw inspiration from the witness of the Blessed Mother.  Last Sunday became another 'Aha!' moment.

The weeks of Advent allow the Christian for a time of preparation, not just for Christmas, but also for Jesus's Second Coming which He promises us.  The Gospel readings leading up to Christmas begin with Jesus Himself, declaring 'No one knows the day or the hour,.' Next we have Gospels concerning John the Baptist who acts as a preparatory prophet, calling on people to 'prepare the way of the Lord!'  Finally this past weekend was the Blessed Mother!  Her response was/is EPIC!!! (Be it done to me according to Thy will..) Just reread the Gospel of St Luke!!  Dear protestant friends,..keep an open mind, then read Genesis 3:15,..then reread the Gospels,..ALL FOUR OF THEM!!!  It isn't an ecumenism thing!  It ain't a politically correct thang,..It's a 'Get yer head out of yer ass thang!!!'  The Blessed Mother should not be dividing us,..She should be the woman uniting us! 

Hail Mary Full of Grace,...........pray for us!

Why The Priest Needs Philosophy

Okay,...time to step away from the Optimusmastro character and revert back to Marco (imagine Bruce Banner!)  The following is a paper that was done a few months back regarding why Priests need philosophy.  In light of the recent metaphysical dimension of the last few posts, I thought I would reprint it!  Please look past any spelling mistakes as I had to translate it,..(I had originally written it in french...)

Today's fast paced multicultural society has become a haven for ideas, fads, cultural norms and trends

each adhering to a certain set of guidlines or rules. The same can be said for religion as it is interpreted

by today's standards. What exactly do I mean by 'standards?' Well by way which humanity looks

upon religion as a cafeteria of differing beliefs, myths and superstition. It can be said that thanks to

mass media, the religious landscape is littered with not just differing and competing 'Christianity(s)' but

but also differing viewpoints on Catholicism as a whole and priesthood in particular. Therefore it is the

thesis of this paper to argue the necessity of philosophy in training future priests. Priests of today are

facing an up hill battle from the secularized world, differing religious traditions and finally it could

noted an internal identity crisis threatening the very fabric of Holy Orders.

Too often the Christian or Catholic can be labelled 'superstitious and closed minded clinging to

mythological truthes concerning a divine which orders humanity to its natural end. It is in this light,

where we must put aside the lense of Faith and thus put on the lense of Reason to justify not only

proofs or arguments for God's existance but also enable the future priest to speak to the world on moral

issues or ecumenical ones by establishing universal 'Truthes' based upon critical thinking. Topics such

as Abortion, euthanasia, and homosexual marriage have presented themselves upon the radar screen

within the politcal agenda, and thus need warranted attention from a priest seeking to better educate his

flock. In these case, the fallacious argument that 'its in the Bible!' would not suffice especially when

speaking with an unbeliever. In this instance, philosophy must step up to answer by proposing a

common universal truth based on logic.

1.What is Philosophy?

According to its greek root words, Philo and Sophia, philosophy literally translates as lover of wisdom.

In this light, the philosopher is one constantly seeking 'truth' to answer life's basic questions. Before

the Church, or Revelation for that matter was even a considered thought in the minds of men, the pre

-Socratics attempted to find the source, or 'arche' of all things. Sifting through different ideas and

theories, mankind sought to achieve the common goal of 'happiness' true authentic 'happiness.' Vatican

II reiterated in Optatum Totius; '

15. -Philosophical subjects should be taught in such a way that students are first of all gradually led to a solid and coherent knowledge of human nature , the world and God, guided by the philosophical tradition of lasting value.-

Taking this into account, the potential future priest candidate will no doubt have the rational tools and

intelligence necessary to combat the many differing mosaic of ideas and morality our current world is

now experiencing.

2. Philosophy as Anchor for Truth.

Authentic, true philosophy is properly speaking, studying a series of effects back to its cause. Pope

John Paul II is his encyclical 'Fides et Ratio' (Faith and Reason) argued that a proper

understanding of theology can never divorce itself from Truth. His opening line clearly outlines and

surmises his premise;

-Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves (cf. Ex 33:18; Ps 27:8-9; 63:2-3; Jn 14:8; 1 Jn 3:2). -

In his encyclical the Holy Father outlines the complamentary nature between Faith and reason. Faith

by itself only reveals what is mystery whereas reason seeks understanding in attempting to

intellectualize and show the Faith not as mere 'superstition' but as a full completion and answer to what

the profound thinkers without revelation could naturally grasp at. In other words, theology must take

off where philosophy leaves us, and thus provide us with an intellectualized Faith capable of standing

on its own. Simply put Truth is Truth. Therefore in comtemplating the mystery of God, whether we

get there by blind faith, or by reason, we are still ordered towards the same end. Herein lies at the core

the beauty of Catholicism, by which through its compatibility with reason, today stands alone through

its unique priestly formation stressing at first Truth as we can know it, and then Faith as the natural

answer to many of these philosophical questions.

The following is taken from the CCCB, (Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops) Decree on the

Training of priests

-Why do future priests need philosophical training? What are the principal reasons?Philosophy for seminarians should be given atheological context, so that they may grasp “with everincreasing clarity the Mystery of Christ, which affectsthe whole course of human history, exercises anincreasing influence on the Church, and operatesmainly through the ministry of the priest” (Decree on

the Training of Priests, 14).-

-

Once again, going back to the beginning, the priest, who as an 'alter Christus' is seen as much more

than just a 'minister as the protestant understanding who have it, must be prepared to dialogue and

discourse in a world filled with differing opinion. Knowledge of philosophy becomes a tool for in my

opinion three key areas. Morality, Inter Faith and Ecumenism, the last two being somewhat

synonimous. Once again, returning to John Paul II,..another encyclical by the name of 'Pastores Dabo

Vobis, the priest in his time writes,.

• For this reason the synod desired to "contextualize" the subject of priests, viewing it in terms of today's society and today's Church in preparation for the third millennium. This is indicated in the second part of the topic's formulation: "The formation of priests in the circumstances of the present day."

The challenges facing the Church, include, among other religions, especially Islam, is secularlism.

Truth is seen as something relative and thus emptied out of its objectivity has given us the fruits of

Abortion as was seen with the 'Hebert' article whereby even the disputability of a human being is

called into question. Philosophy steps in to answer these questions and show that you do not

necessarily have to resource yourself to Faith and the Bible especially while engaging a worldly

person. If the person is religious, a muslim,..then it becomes an entirely different story.

3. Philosophy as a starting point for Inter Faith dialogue.

Pope John Paul II started calling different religious leaders of different faiths to Assisi in order to pray

for peace. Apart from the secularist attack,.the Church it can be argued since the reforms of the

Second Vatican Council has found Herself more open to understanding Her interfaith and ecumenical

mission. Since dialogue and more importantly fruitful dialogue must be achieved so as to push

forward with her goal of evangelization, philosophy can used as a starting point to find common

ground. In other words, to seek what we share in common so that we may be able to better understand

where our friends in other religions are coming from so as to determine how far they are from

Catholicism. St Thomas Aquinas compaired the relationship of other religions to the Church in terms

of 'potentials' or by how much Truth they already possessed. In this light, the priest while speaking

cannot begin a theological discourse without establishing certain 'universalities' and how they got

there. Deep within the fabric of every human being, lies at the very core a true desire for Truth and

for the Divine. Both are one. Thus, philosophy can allow us that window to use our intellects with

adherents of other religions to bring them into a fuller understanding of who God is,.and how we as

man can be happy. A socratic dialogue can take place with a muslim whereby commonalities can be

establishment thus paving the way for Truth to prevail.

4. Philosophy as a key to Morality

Abortion. The very word conjures up debate and stirs emotions. As was briefly alluded to earlier, our

generation is faced with a moral vaccuum giving no clear indicator of whether or not Truth exists or

can be attained. Thus, our morality has suffered and one of the great holocausts of our time, Abortion

exists on a thin line enjoying support at times from well meaning people. The future priest knowing

that he'll have to deal with this said issue can resource himself within the philosophical context and

present to mankind, politicians and other just exactly when a human being is a human being. The same can be said for the just war argument. Peter Kreeft writes,.

• Most of the controversies in our world today can be understood and solved only by good philosophy and theology; for instance, the relation between world religions, especially Islam and Christianity; human life issues such as abortion, euthanasia and cloning; the justice of wars; the meaning of human sexuality and of the "sexual revolution"; the relation between mind and brain, and between human intelligence and "artificial intelligence"; the relation between creation and evolution; how far we are free and responsible and how far we are determined by biological heredity and social environment; the relation between morality and religion, and between religion and politics; and whether morality is socially relative or universal, unchanging and absolute. -

Can it thus be sufficient to say that philosophy can at least attempt to produce a coherent plan for

humans to act in a just moral manner? The future priest knowing that he is dealing with essentially all

of these issues must be ready to give intelligent answers, cognitive and well thought out essentially

being able to dismantle the opposition's argument and present in its place a strong testimony of truth

regardless of whatever Faith tradition one belongs to especially in light of these moral issues,

Abortion, gay marriage, euthanasia and contraception.

5. Philosophy as an aid to Ecumenical Dialogue.

Unlike Inter-Faith dialogue, Ecumenical dialogue has at its goal, since the second Vatican Council the

mission that all Christians be one as Christ Himself is one. Obviously sin on both sides caused this to

be not quite the case. Philosophy, especially coming from the priest allows him to engage our

seperated brethren in serious thought. Most of the time, the philosophical training is cut and dry and

thus invites a sincere search for Truth. Examples of this can be found with regards to the subjectivist

positions and subsequent morality in some of the more 'liberal' mainstream protestant groups to the

'fideistic' fundamentalist groups clinging to a rigidity not based on common sense. The protestant

mosaic, being what it is offers a variety of opinion, and not much philosophy.

To conclude, Just how important is a philosophical formation in the future priest? It can safely be said

that it is essential. We have seen throughout this age that moral ambiguity, spiritual confusion, and

rampant secularism have all but extinguished any hope of metaphysical thought. The future it would

seem would be for the future priest no longer in a world that was once 'Catholic' be called on the carpet

to justify his views on differing subjects. The priest solidly in trained in philosophy specifically

Aristo-Thomism can be well equiped to articulate his positions from a purely rational point of view. In

this light, the priest, will not have to be seen as some relic of medieval superstition, but an actual

living breathing beacon for Truth! Technology, the fast paced consumerism and other contributing

factors have at times left the metaphysical masterpieces of the Greeks, but we must not forget, what

would they think of all this confusion and questions regarding issues that would be no brainers. In the

letter for the Congregation for Catholic Education, paraphrasing,..The modern culture has without a

doubt a certain hostility towards authentic philosophy. This last statement brings up yet another point

that was not truly addressed, and that is, as much as philosphy can anchor the potential priests faith in

God, it can also destroy it especially by deviating away from the Aristo-Thomistic mindset. (Aristotle

and Thomas Aquinas) Peter Kreeft, a well known Thomist thinker in the US, writes,..

-Philosophy can lead you to God, and theology can lead you further into God (or away from Him). And God is the source of all truth, all goodness and all beauty; that is, of everything we value. (If that is not true, then God is not God.) All truth is God's truth; when an atheist discovers some scientific truth, he is reading the mind of God, the Logos. All goodness is God's goodness; when an agnostic secularist loves his neighbor, he is responding to divine grace. All beauty is God's beauty; when a dissipated, confused and immoral artist creates a thing of beauty, he is using the image of God in his soul, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, however anonymously, and participating in God's creative power. -

Truth exists, it just does, and whether we get 'there' by Faith or by reason, we are still attempting to get

to the same thing. Mankind will always, maybe now more than ever ask himself, 'Who I am? Where

did I come from? Where am I going?' How can I be happy? The priest in his role as alter Christus

must be able to step up and be ready to articulate positions for why we are the way we are as Catholics

and not use theology to do it.

To summarize, future priests need metaphysical training the same way a boxer needs cardio and

stamina. It is the lifeblood of Truth to be able to wonder what is the 'Arche.' Now more than ever,

because of the reasons put forth in this answer,.Because of cultural shifts, because of morality and

because of pluralism and multiculturalism, because of interfaith dialogue and finally because of ecumenical dialogue. It is only through rational discourse that proper arguments can be put forth and

solutions metted out in the arena of reason alone. The Aristo-Thomism of the Catholic Church which

laid the groundwork for what we now call the modern university, is the only way for humanity to

recover its roots, studying a series of 'effect' back to its 'cause.' In this light, this priest, as bearer of

Christ to the world, must be prepared for that changed world, and thus meet it head on! Whether we

like it or not, forty-six chromosones are in a human being when the sperm meets the end! This makes

life fully life, and we didn't need the Bible to tell us, just our own active intellects!

Hope you enjoyed it,..I know, I know, just cause I have muscles, you didn't expect me to be so nerdy!!!

Philosophy Bedtime Story for Dummies,..

So it finally happened this past week!  I was called an 'idiot' for being Christian aaaand 'if I would open my eyes to the great scientists and thinkers' of today's modern era, I would see that God doesn't exist, it was all just a fancy made up story!  Weeell, all I can say is WOW!!!!!!!  Where do I begin?   A couple of weeks ago I was in the whore of Babylon by a well meaning evangelical who sincerely thought I over-intellectualized my Faith, and now,..according to this one person, I happen to be a well meaning 'idiot' for believing in God!  Talk about extremes!   'Can you demonstrate in a simple way,..the rationality of God?'  Here goes,..

So okay kiddies,..one day, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away,.(Earth) there was this dude named 'Thales' who came from Miletus(Turkey..).  He sat up and said to himself,..what caused me?  hmmm,..after speculation he concluded, 'Water!'  Up to bat next and from the same part of town was another guy named Anaximander, this dude was taught by that Thales guy, but he disagreed that water was the cause of all things, because well,.water itself must be caused so he(Anaximander,..don't wanna lose you now,..) proposed the idea that everything stems from a 'boundless infinite.'  Now Anaximander had his own pupils, who's names were Anaximenes and another super ultra cool guy named named 'Pythagoras.'  (At this point there eyes lite up because that name sounds kinda mathematical..)  Anaximenes, differed from his teacher again and concluded that 'air' is the cause of everything!   These guys are called the pre-socratics and they were searching for the 'Arche' or material cause of everything, because, well simply put, the greeks couldn't put up with babylonian mythology anymore, the idea that its raining so the 'gods' must be crying didn't fly..Now of course there were others, Heracletes, Herodotus and Xenophanes to name a few..  Okay kiddies, time to go for a peepee break!

So now that these people had tried to use their brains to figure out just what the hell caused us, there came this guy, and we can call him the Vincent K. McMahon of Philosophy!  His name was Socrates!   This dude was an Athenian and is largely credited as the father of western philosophy!  The thing is, he didn't write anything but instead relied on his star pupil Plato,..(you heard of him?  good job!) to write his thoughts down.  The Socratic dialogue or 'conversation was born whereby an athenian stranger would ask, object and inquire about life, the pursuit of happiness and justice and virtue!  It was sooo cool because well, all the objections were laid out, and Socrates would answer them!  His desire for a just society though, led him into what we call today Socratic paradoxes, namely that no one desires or does 'evil' willingly yet we are almost pre programmed to do so! (At this point flashbulbs should be going off,..'original sin' anybody?)  The end of life saw him accused by his society of corrupting the youth and blasphemy by introducing false 'gods.'  Socrates did not fear death, and instead drank the elixir of poison after delivering his apology.

Plato.  The man,..whooo!  If Socrates is the Vince McMahon, then Plato is the Hulk Hogan of western thought!  Plato's relationship to Socrates was that he was Socrates's student and it is alleged, one of the youths that Socrates corrupted.  He was a wrestler(woohoo) and proposed theories on Mathematics, ethics, logic as well as superb metaphysics.  Plato's philosophy proposed a 'world of universals' or 'forms.'  He argued that there must exist two worlds, one of 'form' so that we, being rational thinkers(unlike a dog or a cat) already have an understanding of 'things' as they are in perception.  To see a chair, I already have an understanding of 'chairness' or 'sitting' from the world of 'forms.'  (Uh oh,..remember these Greeks didn't have the Revelation of God yet, but already our minds are being 'lifted up shall we say?) Plato believed that it was not rational to not believe in an immortal soul, because of the whole idea of the body as we see it.  A great insight into his thought process, is the 'Cave,' whereby he illustrates man's prison inside the cave only seeing what perception allows him to but the, once he gets outside,..the real world, 'forms' become truly present!!!  The 'sun' representing the ideal of the 'good.'   Okay,..peepee break number two!,..

Now on to the next dude,..Hey all you tired atheists, have you figured it out yet, that in fact it actually takes more 'faith' to be an atheist than to have a belief in Go--(oops, not there yet,..) a 'higher life power force, Vector sigma, the Matrix,..whatever you want to call 'it.'  Now as much as Plato concerned himself with the world of 'forms' or 'ideas' in the end he was a dualist,..remember the cave analogy, well, he also applied it to the human body, that the soul was trapped in it, thus the body was a 'prison.'  Okay, enough about that Plato guy,..let's turn our attention to his student,..Aristototle!!!!!!! (Glass breaks,..hit the music,..)  Aristotle, (The Stone Cold Steve Austin of Philosophy) rejected his master's universe of ideas, and instead declared that all truth can be perceptively grasped in the now, and 'things' are the in themselves there own reason for existing!  Four elements made up everything and they were earth, water, fire and wind!  (The fifth one he proposed was Aether, which he claimed that the stars were made up of,..and thus incorruptible,..Hey!  No one ever said he was perfect right?)   He, obeserved that these earthly elements were corruptible and thus subject to 'change' sooooo,.he declared 'mobile being' as divisible by substance and accident, matter and form, essence and exostance and finally potential and actual!  Ex,..I,.Marco am going to a big room.  "I' the substance,.(Me) and in potential (going) to a big (accidental) room, (actual,..but always in potential,..).  So,..Plato concerned himself with the heav--(oops,..'other world',..) and Aristototle concerned himself with temperal things.  Now if everything is cause and effect,..this can't go on forever, right?  He proposed 55 levels each attracted to the other and ultimately a final/first cause as the immobile motor!  What was that???  Logic, Thought, les Pensees!  Boooyaaaa!!  (is this all making a little sense to you??)   Not for anything,..but the Gospel of Saint John and the 'LOGOS' should be firing off in your head right about,.......NOW!

Now, throughout salvation history, God decides to reveal Himself to Moses on the mountain,..What is His name?  'I AM WHO AM'  Perfect pure Act, Pure being, no Potential,..this puzzle should be comin' together for ya,..right?  So now, Jesus comes and completely reveals God to man, reconciling ourselves to Him,..remember that predetermined 'original sin' nugget from earlier?  There were other thinkers along the way, including Epicurus, Augustine and the reigning heavyweight champion, St Thomas Aquinas!  His Summa Theoligica, although never finished, perfectly synthesized thought, creating the Catholic school of thinking known as Aristotelico-Thomist.  Truth is Truth!  Plain and simple, whether you get there by Faith or by reason, we are all going to the same beginning.

I realize that this blog post was superficial and condescending, but I believe it needed to be done in order to serve a purpose.  St Paul cites,.(Romans 2:14)   (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law,)...I think every human being on the planet longs for God,..whether they know it or not.  Again, I didn't expand on the idea, of souls being vegetative, sensitive or rational but I believe the Atheist really has no grounding whatsoever.  As far as his great scientists go,..Hawking, Dawkins,..they all propose theories rooted in subjectivist thinking!  A base philosophical precept states that 'something must come from something, something cannot come from nothing.'  The product of the enlightenment simply divorced reason from Faith,..and is a direct result of the protestant revolt,..(sorry prots, but it is the Truth!)  To the dude who called me an idiot,..remember as Catholics we are the ones responsible for the very idea of the university,..I'm not exactly Kirk Cameron trying to proove God using the banana, as well meaning as he is,..

God Bless,..sorry,.may the 'force' be with you.

From There to Here to,..The Vatican/SSPX...

New development in the Vatican/ Society of Saint Pius X talks!  Ok,..not really, but I had ya, didn't I?  It seems the doctrinal preamble sent to the society by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will not be signed and has been sent back to Rome in order to be more clarified,..this according to Archbishop Bernard Fellay of the SSPX.  If you are a new reader kindly search the archives if you want me to develop further upon the schism of the SSPX.  At any rate, these  'talks' of course center around Vatican II's interpretation especially regarding ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.  Rant time:  First off no one knows the contents of what the doctrinal preamble said, all we can do is speculate, BUT,..(yes a big 'but') what's really cute in all of this is still the 1970s 'Catholik fruitloop crew' of heterodoxy and marxism opining on television, print or other wise on this issue!  Hey guys, I thought we were supposed to be all inclusive!!!  C'mon you people are discriminating unfairly against the SSPX!  I mean afterall, since you people don't believe in excommunication, why were you so wrapped up in the Pope's lifting of SSPX excommunications?  Some consistancy please?  I know I'll get into trouble for this, but the heterodox crew along with their crayons and ecologically aware personalities can sometimes cause constipation.  Even when they yell at you for being too 'conservative' (key word for 'orthodox') you can't hit one because their average age is 78!!!  Here's a nifty idea,..let's let the Holy Spirit decide whether or not the SSPX returns to full communion! 

An email came in recently whereby I nearly laughed my ass off(in a good way!) so hard that I began to tear up!  The topic in question was how could I be certain I am called to priesthood.  Well,..the short answer is very simple!  I don't know if I'm called but that's why I have a Spiritual Director who will help me discern the process and thus guide me in such a way to see whether or not God is calling me to serve Him as a priest.  How did this happen?  Slowly but surely, step by step, I ran and ran and ran,..but guess what?  Now matter how much temporal success I was given, I always felt 'something' was missing, a sort of deep thirst that I did not know how to quench.   So I took the plunge...

Our Lady of Fatima,.........ora pro nobis.

'Andy'

Note,..This blog post is about politics, not individual muslims.  During a recent wave of youtube gluttony, I found myself watching several interviews with British lawyer turned Islamic nutjob Anjem Choudary.  His thoughts, yet were very clearly articulated and he did not muddle his positions, whether it be on Christians, the future of Europe and the West, and why he feels the Sharia would make the best solution to the world's problems..See here.


Now before we ruffle a few feathers, yes Christianity has had its share of crackpots and looney tune bigotry among its ranks,..luminaries such as Westboro Baptist, Bob Jones III, Peter Ruckman and even the late Fr Feeney used to advance fundamentalist ideology to the point whereby 'Judge not' was for the common folk, but these dudes would judge you straight to hell and would even question God Himself.  The point however is that both the secular and the religious called out their baffounry on the red carpet and truly made the effort to distance themselves from them.   The one common thread these wackadoodles all share is that they all once were the life of the party!  'Andy'(as he was known to friends) used to enjoy downing pints of beer with his buddies and as far as his sexual appetite went, well he can thank God there was no sharia back then because he would have been stoned to death!  Makes you kinda wonder whether his parents agree with his current ughhh,.'views' as an alternative to his previous lifestyle!

Choudrary is another story.  Raised in 'multicultural' Britain, he piggybacks off of his homeland's freedom of speech to advance an alternative ideology completely at odds with Britain!  Some might even argue completely at odds with Islam itself!  Peter Kreeft in his book, Fundamentals of the Faith, speaks about the beauty and simplicity of Islam, Pope John Paul II echoed the same viewpoint.  Irshad Manji is calling for the peace loving muslims, while Omar Brooks (another British 'dude') is sending people to hell for not being muslim!   As a Catholic, I happen to disagree on major doctrinal points regarding regarding the nature of God in Islam, but that is another story and another post. However I believe this issue is a problem within Islam because it lacks no human governance, they have no central authority to declare what is dogma and what isn't.  That being said, it can be argued that there is no true interpretation of exactly what authentic Islam is.  The moderates are branded Kafir and the Shia,..something else...


  What I believe is happening right now is essentially the Islamic version of both the protestant reformation and the enlightenment all rolled into one.  Islam, being the youngest Abrahamic religion is encountaring both secularism and full blown atheism.  Like Catholicism, Islam will have to undergo its own 'Vatican II.'  We are at a crossroads, Huntington's Clash of Civilizations or Edward Said's Orientalism?   As it stands right now, both are right.  Which one will win out?  That is the question!  As for Choudary, I respect his honesty in the same way I respected Jacques Parizeau's view of an independant Quebec.  At least they were honest...

Our Lady of Fatima,........ora pro nobis.

Benetton Ads, CAQ and a Friday Morning Qb...

Another news story elevating my blood pressure and causing me to lift heavier is the recent Benetton 'UnHate' campaign.  For those you living above the Arctic circle who haven't seen them yet,..well get your vomit bag ready because guess what anti-Catholicism is clearly the latest 'fall fashion!'  (Oh wait a minute, according to most secular media outlets its actually in fashion all year round!)  Click here!   It seems that humanity has sunk to a new low with this one.  So aside from being the cool thing to always bash Catholicism,.there is also a picture of an Imam in it,..which is why the 'left' is also condemning the ad.  Just sayin,..'  Hey mass media, there are more protestant ministers, teachers and coaches molesting children than there are Catholic priests doing it!  The stats are there.  Either way its wrong, but your discrimination is blatanly ridiculous!  See here!  What about teachers?  See here!  I made to link protestant sources on purpose, because well you sure as anything seem to turn a blind eye!  To conclude this point, whichever person, says uhhh, yeah,..but uhhhh de Pope dude is making out wit an arab guy,..uhhh,..toke,..toke,..cough,..cough,..they are not alluding to the kid problem, I say this,..GET A CLUE!

Francois Legault launched his new party CAQ, (Coalition pour Avenir du Quebec) this week, and already speaking of the media, they were quick to criticize it!  Yes, I know that my political rants are becoming less and less frquent, but sometimes it has to be said!  For my American readership, most members of the Quebec media, (even those who work for CBC ) are card carrying members of the PQ. (Partie Quebecois.)  Article one of this party is to seperate Quebec from Canada.  The party in power right now is Jean Charest's Quebec Liberals and because of construction scandals (Yes,.. can you believe it, the mob implicated in construction?  No!!) he is about as popular as the Holy Father at a gay parade.  The problem is that people don't want to vote for the PQ because separation is going the way of the 'Spirit of VII' crowd,..ie extinction, so we don't  need to stir them up causing our dollar to be worth the same amount as a 'peso.'  The solution was Legault, himself a separatist, but the 'Rene Levesque' kind.  He called a press conference several months back and allied himself with Charles Sirois, a federalist.  The first thing they declared was that the separation movement is dead!  Which by the way is true, the only people not knowing it is some left of centre cegep (college) students who don't work and of course the Quebec media, who are constantly trying to give it CPR...So Legault now is considered a traitor and thus the media has criticized his logo,...Yes,...his logo...

I need to get to the States, I need my Cookie Crisp Cereal,...but then again, they have Obama,..

St Joseph,.......priez pour nous!

Dear Michael Voris

Just a quick note to thank you for all the work you do over at Real Catholic TV.  As a man in his thirties, I grew up amidst the turbulent 1980s whereby being forced to attend Mass, I would often wonder why God and Jesus were so into arts and crafts.  But really?  I can vividly recall one Sunday back then when I had a game in the morning.  It was rare, because we were still somewhat sane, and stores were still closed.  My parents, allowed me to play, but I remember being rushed off the ice, into the car because we had to be at Sunday school/'catechism class.'  I remember most of the boys in class were also on my team, and we were ushered into the parish hall in full equipment, though our skates and sticks were left in the car.  Myself, I was always into religion and my Faith, but having to rush to create a cardboard butterfly to give to Father 'Feelgood' so he could put it on the table of the Lord as we all sang 'Joy Joy Joy down in my heart.,.it didn't do it for me...Yup, that April, we made our First Communion.  This Jesus dude wasn't portrayed to us as God Incarnate who died for our sins, but as a fluffy bunny rabbit who told everyone to be niiiice:)  Yayyyy!  Through shows like the Vortex, I know that I'm not alone with the above scenerio.

Now, times and things have changed!  I am now discerning priesthood, and have not hidden it.  I am still a work in progress(believe me!).  I thank you for shining a light on those bottom feeding little pissants still controlling chancery offices and vocation recruitment.  There I go being uncharitable again!  Well I will not lay down my life for some wishy washy socialist driven politically correct bullshit-a-thon!.  Newsflash!  I am a man!  I am a sinner!  I need Jesus!  I don't want to die in a state of unrepentant mortal sin!  I truly wish to live the Call to Holiness!  I need prayers!  I support!  There is a long road ahead of me,..Mr Voris,..keep up the good work, you are in my prayers!  (Spins pencil,..)

To Mr Voris' marketing stylist,..Please do something about his hair,..really,.please.  Its not cool, ..at all. ;)

Sacred Heart of Jesus,.........Have mercy on us.

Optimusmastro New Translation is Coming,...

Shootin' Straight,...

**Disclaimer,.This post will be concerning pornography in case children are reading**

A few days ago, I was asked my opinion about pornography.  Is it really that dangerous, and what's so wrong about it?  Well for starters, no one at one time was a bigger pig and womanizer than I was.  I looked at life like a giant playground and sought to fulfill every petty little fantasy I could ever have dreamed of!  Working out of a gym had its perks, and I certainly partook of it.  What was missing?  Well for one thing my smile...actually my smile was there but for all the wrong reasons.

Why was I not happy?  On the surfcace I was 'content,' moving from one sensual stimuli to the next, yet completely empty on the inside.  Imagine a cat purring as you pet it, then you stop.  The cat then stops purring, this is how society as a whole begun to view itself.  'Happiness was not 'Joy' as we understand it theologically, but simplistic 'contentment.'  Pornography operates the same way inside a man's psyche.  It emasculates a man, by offering up the sensual delight as the ideal,..only one problem though,..because that woman you see in the picture is stripped of her humanity by every chemical cocktail coursing through your brain(pituatary gland),..she becomes an object of lust, completely divorced from love.  Stability is then removed and in its place a sort of addiction forms.  So the 'ideal' ceases to be ideal and keeps changing so you can 'get off.'  The man then has difficulty maintaining a normal relationship with any girl.  Guys,..by the way, don't kid yourself,.this porn problem is an epidemic!

How does one get free from porn?  Well, the first thing is to do is to acknowledge that its there.  Society has given it a mainstream acceptability, that even driving on the autoroute, you'll see 'La Senza' ads with women in lingerie.  Ask yourself honestly, can it be argued that there is a link between pornography, contraception and abortion?  Honestly, I think this is a no brainer....The second thing to do, is to use prayer as a resource!  Jesus came to save us, so that we could be free!!!  (Are we really free guys when we look at porn on the 'Net with a box of kleenex beside us?  I think in all actuality, we look pretty freakin' ridiculous!)  Jesus knows our struggle and yes it will take time, but prayer is essential!  Thirdly, a Spiritual Director or someone we can be accountable to.  Every guy struggles with this, it is how we fight that is the issue.  Saints are sinners who fall but don't stay down,..they get back up!  My friend Bishop Tom Dowd told me that the Church is not a hotel for saints,..it is in fact a hospital for sinners! 

Do we win the battle?  Well Jesus already won it for us at Calvary.  Yes, we do have the residue of original sin, but as long as we keep fighting, offering up our suffering(s) we too can share in this victory!  I, myself am a 'work in progress' but through prayer, and accountability, I hope to get this issue under control.  One trick I did recently, was to remove the condom in my wallet and replce it with a benedictine medal and a picture of my beautiful Goddaughter Bianca.  As men, it is embedded into our character to be protective of those we love.  If I even suspected some guy of looking at her a certain way,..I would be prone to disconnecting that dude's head from the rest of his body! 

Our Lady Undoer of Knots,.............ora pro nobis.

The Protestant Spotlight...

Every now and then my blog is discovered by some 'supposed' prominent evangelical looking to convert me out of the Catholic Church by lambasting me with the same run of the mill charges that we've heard time and time again.  So 'Kevin' as I promised I'll read your material, oh wait a minute, yes, I already did read your material!  I get enough of it in the mail,..the 'Chick Tracts?..  Strangely enough, I am not moved to renounce my Faith and adopt, in my opinion a more convenient version of Christianity, or should I say a watered down version.  Perhaps, you should reread the Gospels and approach the way you evangelize in a different manner.  Our Lord never imposes, only proposes.  It is through invitation and free will that we follow Christ, if it isn't, then it isn't really a choice, is it?

By and large, I love my protestant brethren.  Dare I say, if not for them, I would not be as zealous as I am.  As Catholics, we can learn alot from our protestant friends, especially when it comes to living our Faith.  Evangelicals, in particular wear their Christian Faith on their sleeve and are not afraid to proclaim it in the public square.  They are on the front lines concerning abortion, so-called gay marriage as well as countless other societal and social issues plaguing our contemporary culture.  We agree on some points doctrinally, but yes we differ on others.  Does that mean it doesn't matter?  Absolutely it matters!!!!  For the protestant, they need to rely on natural Grace while we have access to the Sacraments!! The prots have to live their Faith so intensely, not because God is an accountant, but because they remain in imperfect communion with the Church.  Some of them do just that.  Among these evangelicals, we can find certain allies and people of good will(Billy Graham, Jack Van Impe) who honestly view the Church as just another denomination.  In short we can offer Rosaries for these people as sometimes they are but one little nudge away from the Eucharist! 

The other side of the protestant world, is the modernist mainstream crowd.  These people, seem to tolerate everything and will do anything in the name of compromise sometimes without even realizing it.  It should be noted that what seperates this group from the 'spirit of VII' group of heterodox 'catholics,' is that the mainstream protestants even tolerate authentic Catholicism, something the heterodox liberation theology crowd often has an allergic reaction to!  They care little about objective truth, and follow a 'live and let live' philosophy,..too bad they contracepted themselves and they're respective communities out of existance!  People like Pastor Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral fit this mold, Joel Osteen,..and the majority of anglicans...

The third group is where you fit in Kevin!  The anti-Catholic.  We can agree on most issues of morality and law but when it comes down to it, you see me as part and parcel of the Whore of Babylon!  Well,..not really gonna argue with your type, but I will pray for you.  I do accept you as my Christian brother, even if you don't accept me.  I do, however have a couple of questions that you might want to ask Peter Ruckman or Bob Jones III or even the grand poobaah himself, Jack T Chick!,..The first being, when was  the New Testament canonized and by whom?  The second being,. where are all your martyrs and Saints throughout your history?  Now, I'm not taking the philosophical route, or even claiming that the Bible is our (Catholic) book,..just posing some questions that'll make you think critically.  I respect the fact that you care enough for my salvation to try to persuade me to leave the Church, but I in turn am asking you, what if you come to a knowledge of Truth?  You won't be invincibly ignorant any longer,..so would you be ready to swim the Tiber because then your immortal soul could potentially be in danger?   Only God knows the human heart,. We both believe Truth exists, but only one of us can be right. 

My protestant friends, God Bless you!  Some of you live your Faith in such a way that should make Catholics (including myself) feel ashamed.  I will leave you with this,..Obviously 'Kevin' is a name I gave to someone who recently contacted me, but his type must be met with intelligent answers.  Our late Pope John Paul II wrote an encyclical entitled 'Fides et Ratio' or Faith and Reason.  We must have reason, without it, faith becomes superstition.  Our Church was born 2000 years ago at Pentecost.,..Only the Church can trace an unbroken line through apostolic succession,....My friends, think, pray on it,..because the way the world is going right now, I think it is time to come home.

St Francis of Assisi,..........Ora pro nobis.

The Autobot Litany,..

The title can be a little misleading but I am a Catholic Cybertronian afterall.  Every now and then I step away from theology and Catholic issues to speak about Transformers, and finding the Catholic parrallels in them.  Specifically Transformers Generation 1.  Yup,..it can be safely said that despite my incredible superhuman strength, dangerous charisma, and ravishing good looks,..I am and will always be a geek at heart!  So as a little break from all things heterodox, today I will present you the autobot hierarchy and what Saint they remind me of!  Sooo,..here goes, Theology and Transformers!

Optimus Prime:  Much more than a regular Saint,.Optimus Prime is in many ways a Christ figure similar to Aslan the Lion from the Narnia series.  Among his attributes, courage, compassion and above all else self sacrifice for the autobot cause.  Those of us in our thirties will certainly never forget that powerful scene of Prime roaring into autobot city after the forces were depleted.  Optimus freely chose to give his life for what was right and true and in doing so, died.  Yet, as Megatron through Prime's death was defeated, Optimus came back to life to once again save humanity and the galaxy from the 'Hate' plague.  Images of 'Love' conquering 'Hate' resonate throughout Transformers.  Even as a kid, Optimus would offer insight and wisdom to a whole generation, the same generation which didn't quite grasp the idea of Optimus executing a decepticon in the life action movie.

Ultra Magnus:  Okay, admittedly this can get a little tricky, but Magnus for me always reminded me of St Peter.  Magnus was a superd general in the autobot army and like Optimus was ever ready to sarifice himself for the good of the cause.  Magnus lacked confidence the same way Peter the Apostle lacked Faith,..remember the whole walking on water from the Gospel?  Yet, still Peter was made the first Pope by Christ Himself.  Although Ultra Magnus was proven not to be the chosen one by the autobot matrix, (Rodimus) nevetheles, his natural leadership abilities made him retain his 2nd in command stature even after Optimus returned.  In the 'Rebirth' series this is evidenced as Magnus leads the defence of Cybertron. 

Rodimus Prime:  In many respects, I've always found a similarity between Rodimus and St Paul.  As Hot Rod, a case can be made that he was responsible for causing Optimus's death in the original movie.  Remember that in the NewTestament, Paul as Saul was a pharisee in charge of leading the persecution of Christians.  He (Paul) was even present at the stoning of Stephen, an early Christian martyr.  Saul was knocked from his horse on the way to Damascus experincing a vision of the Ressurected Christ.  Hot Rod was 'knocked' so to speak twice, upon Prime passing the Matrix to Magnus, Hot Rod touched it first thereby imprinting him.  As well, Hot Rod experiences his 'Damascus' moment inside Unicron when from the Matrix, Prime's voice is heard, 'Arise Rodimus Prime!'  Rodimus then becomes the central figure throughout season three, the same way that Paul becomes the central figure in the New Testament through his letters after Jesus ascends to the Father.

I will be blogging more often as of now, not making any promises, but am gonna try for twice a week, as I progress towards the discernment of the ultimate end.  Please pray for me. 

God Bless,....

The Few, The Proud,..The Seminarians!

Be a man!!! That's the battle cry of the Optimusmastro character! Why because it is high time, we, Catholic men, retook and reclaimed our identity as men! What is a man? Much more than just biology, it encompases virtue, values, discipline and honour. However, this doesn't change the fact that as men, we like to burp, fart and lift heavy things!  Why is though that the men we meet in 'spirit of the second Vatican Council' all look like they've,..ughh,..let's just say 'had a rough high school?'  A few months back, Fr Steve Grunow asked me to begin writing down a potential workout for priests, seminarians and religious. Only since the nineteen 1960s its not just a physical workout but an entire way of life must be mapped out! Too often this is lacking and the fruits were spread out across the mainstream media as if a tidal wave of pink crippled our clergy. My opinion was that this was an intentional effort notwitstanding, remember, 'no priests=no Eucharist!' So forget the feminist nuns and their little agenda of destroying the priesthood so we could ordain women,....(Sorry Sr Joan,..the numbers are against you..) 

1970s Schedule,..sort of,.;)

800am,..rise and shine, its okay if you miss Mass, cause it's only fellowship,..

900am,..Class, since there is no truth, let's go out side and watch the leaves turn colours,..yaaayyyy!!

1000am,..Islam Class and how it is such a beautiful religion by Sister Raindance McWhalesaver, (who in addition to being a 'women religious,' has embraced her muslim understanding by acting as an Imam at the local feminist Mosque..)..

12pm,..lunch (tofu..)

2pm,...Ecumenism and why we are still in a partiarchal closed minded institutional  Church which is not up to date..

330pm,..Social Justice,..reading selected writings of Karl Marx while sipping fair trade coffee...

500pm,..Nap :)

6pm,...Supper, vegan lasagna...

7pm,..Meeting with our Pastoral moderators to see our progression viewing God as He/She...

9pm,..to whenever,....sleepy time!  yaaaayyy!

So what do we do? Do we bitch and moan about it or do we roll up our sleeves and fix it! John Paul the Great, our late Holy Father lamented a crisis in identity and masculinity within the Church, the model St Joseph, pushed aside for Mr Rogers...So now, the modern seminarian, hearing the call of Our Lord to follow Him as His priest, gives up (freely..) his life and what has happened? Fr Flaky McNobackbone offers you sensitivity classes and little retreats asking you and other men to talk about your 'feelings' and maybe colour a little banner....Are they freaking serious???!!!?? Hey boyz, you wanna know why there are no vocations?!? So I recommend this little change in the schedule...

530am,......Meditation (Morning Prayer)

630am,......Mass

745am,......Breakfast

900am,......Class

1215,.........Lunch (Mid day prayer)

1315pm,....Exercise,..(MMA, boxing, weight training, running) During this time you can weed out the socially awkward guys...(Time to see the psychologist!;))

1500pm,....Divine Mercy Chaplet

1530pm,....Pastoral work with real people ( helping the blind, visiting the shut ins,..etc..)

1730pm,....Supper

1830pm,....Fraternity time wit da boyz! This is time used to speak about your day and experiences, to fellowship and be accountable for guys' type of sins, y'know masturbation, pornography etc,..

1930pm,....Evening prayer and Rosary

2030pm,....Study and downtime

2230pm,....lights out.

So there you have it! What's missing?? Take a guess, its television!!! You wanna watch, do it on your downtime..A surefire roadmap for attracting men to serve in the priesthood.  What else is missing?,..How about no meeting with Fr Fruitcake, and Monsignor Flaky regarding watching ladybugs and how cute they are!

St Jean Vianney,........Ora pro nobis.

Apologetic for the Afterlife

Today's post will be a little different.  At times we, (mankind) can use Faith as a scapegoat to 'prove' certain things that we really can't demonstratively.  We hear it all the time, especially from our protestant evangelical friends, when they say things like, 'Of course Heaven exists, its in the Bible!!!'  Now this statement taken from a pure academic perspective as in 'outside the box' obviously falls short with regards to reason.  The Church as has been mentioned several times on this blog has always looked to the great thinkers before Christ and even before God revealed Himself to Israel in order to show that reason alone had certain wants and needs to be fulfilled when it came to 'What is Truth?' 

For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, I usually like to start my day with a quote.  Whether it be Augustine, Aquinas, Chesterton, C.S. Lewis or any other great thinker/theologian all offering one little nugget of wisdom to meditate upon for the day.  I rarely quote Jesus, but instead use these thinkers, all of whom are Christian in order to dispel myths that somehow Christians are backward and unintelligent.  (Sorry Bill Maher..)  On Wednesday, I offered a quote from C.S. Lewis; 'Has this world been so kind to you that you leave with regret?  There are better things ahead than what we leave behind.'  Needless to say that generated some degree of good commentary, the kind that makes you sink your teeth into.  Does Heaven exist?  This is the question that arises out of Lewis statement presupposing that everything will be better when we leave our bodily existence.  However, before we can even imagine Heaven, we must attempt to justify the existence of an immortal soul.

The goal of Greek philosophy was at its heart to search for the 'Arche' or origin of things.  Divorcing itself from simplistic babylonian myths explaining away why its raining,.(the gods are crying,..) it sought to use reason and in doing so, laid much of the groundwork for what are now standard Christian beliefs.  Human beings, argued Plato, know and understand things from both the sensible world and the unintelligible world, the world of 'ideas.'  An example would be knowledge of a chair based on understanding its 'chairness' as the original 'idea.'  Should we break the chair, the idea or form of 'chairness' never goes into non existance despite the fact we might throw away one tangible expression of a chair in temperal reality.  Man, thus in knowing 'things' or understanding them shows himself a link between these two worlds.  The soul, or 'anima' must belong elsewhere though it is trapped in its bodily prison.  (Plato was a dualist.)  Since only temperal sensual things can die, (corruptibility) it can be reasonable to assume that formless 'essences' cannot die because they are not sensual or temporal in and of themselves.  The opposite would be harder to grasp,..How would understanding of a formless consciousness go into non-existance if it isn't bound a temporal constrainsts??? ie the body?  Now remember, that all of this is before God's Revelation of Himself.

Does Heaven exist?  I along with most rationalists would answer an unequivocal 'Yes!'  The simple reason belongs again to our mind being able to capacitate it.  How do we get 'there?'  Therein again lies another problem, 'going to Heaven, as opposed to 'being' in Heaven.  When mankind attempt to use words to convey Truths, we use potentials without realizing it.  If God is eternal,.then we can conclude that there is no such thing as 'time' (measure of motion) when we speak of God.  Thus we make Heaven a literal 'place' instead of the Beatific Vision, or seeing God face to face.  Can people in Heaven hear us?  Absolutely, they can also pray for us like the Saints do. (  Revelation 5:8)

Obviously this subject can have a great deal more explanation, but since this is a blog, and not a full blown book about the question, I hope to provide you, the readership with a little primer as it regards the Afterlife.  Of course as Catholics, we must not forget that in speaking about Heaven it must force us to consider Hell.

Our Lady of Fatima,.......Ora pro nobis.

 

Journey Home...

I announce to you a great joy!  One of my clients who became a friend has finally come back home to the Catholic Church!  Sometimes God is just so good, that I have to step away from my usual rants and tearing up of heterodox crap in order to bring to you some fantastic news of how God's Grace freely operates in the world, and how through no action of our own we can find ourselves looking at Truth face to face!  Of course some background will be provided,..

A year and a half ago, I met a client, (let's call her 'V').  She started training with us looking to better her physical self.  The typical reasons, health, to look and feel good and to acquire good nutritional habits.  Needless to say that she is now starting to look at working out as part and parcel of her new way of life,..just something you 'do.'  While we, (Project Infinity) were working on her, she took it upon herself, perhaps moved by the Holy Spirit to evangelize us.  I almost forgot to mention that she was also a Pentecostal Pastor!  I think God put it in her heart to speak with us, specifically me, about Jesus and our need for Salvation.  Needless to say that I had a response.

The age old expression God works in mysterious ways is often used without giving any kind of meaningful reflection as to what that means.  First off, here is a woman actually living out her faith!  She was and still is on fire for Christ!  While she might not have had any proper understanding of the Church when she was younger, (she was a fallen away Catholic..) she came into a deep personal commitment to Christ as her Lord and Saviour.  Did she try to get me to leave the Catholic Church?  Absolutely!  Was I offended?  Absolutely not!  She had enough 'balls' (she's a girl after all ;) to actually care enough for my eternal soul and its potential destination to break a politically correct taboo!!!  A series of Tim Horton's coffee talks commenced, and while engaging and presenting the Faith, little did I realize that the Holy Spirit was (and still is..) working on me!!!!!  During this time, I was still very much leading the double life, one foot in the spiritual world and one foot in the secular.  Needless to say that the gulf between my legs was getting wiiiiiiiiider!  You can have all the head knowledge you want,..but guess what, that's all it would be it it is not put into action!  Needless to say, I am not going to engage in an apologetical strategy when dealing with Fundamentalists (you can find one online and that's not what this post is about...), just a short understanding of Church history should suffice.  Instead, through her example teaching me humility,.(ongoing...) I equiped her with enough knowledge to make a beautiful realization!  'V' as a protestant you found Jesus,.you lived your Faith beautifully.  As a Catholic, you'll be even more intimate, you will substantially be in communion with Him in the Eucharist!!!  How cool is that????!!?! By the way, you also now can have the Blessed Mother in your life.  Catholic converts living out their faith lose NOTHING of what they had,..They instead gain the fullness of Truth!

Any protestant reading this post, if you are curious about the Faith, don't hesitate to email me personally.  It might take a while for me to get back to you but I will.  In the meantime, I will post a quick timeline of Christian History right up to AD 500 ,..here.  Also a quick timeline of how the Bible came to be right over here .  May Almighty God bless you in your journey!

Blessed John Paul the Great,..........Ora pro nobis!

The War is On !!!!!!!!!!

Here it is, another Vortex!  Mike Voris exposes some ridiculousness that happened earlier last year!  The primer for this one is an old post from last August,..see here.  So without further addue,..The Bishop of El Paso has annexed Fr Michael Rodriguez into the farthest corner of his diocese,..why because his stance on so-called 'gay marriage is in accord with Church teaching.  There you have it!  Now, I'm not gonna put up the Vortex video but I encourage every like minded individual to check it out at Real CatholicTv.  This way all you readers who haven't experienced this site can sign up for free to view the videos!!!  As for the story itself, this article should give you the general idea.  In war we need to weed out the enemies and traitors to our Faith!  Sorry to say it, but they are re crucifying Christ!!!  A Rosary crusade for Fr Rodriguez, who let me also say, who is showing great example like the Apostles in accepting his cross,..Another 'famous' priest should take note, BlackSheepDog, you listening?  Fr Rodriguez, may Almighty God Bless and keep you!  Bishop Ochoa, may Our Lady's mantle cover you.  Thought we don't know what's in your heart,.I hope and pray for you! 

Our Lady of Fatima,.......Ora pro nobis.

The Buck Stops Here!!!!

Before I begin with my rant for this week, I just wanted to say that it's very rare that I do a book review, but this particular one, I just can't pass up!  The book is by Sister Sara Butler entitled The Catholic Priesthood and Women.  Ouuuuuh, I can almost hear the shock of heterodox ears as they nearly choke on their vegan tofu.  Yup,.this book offers theological insights as to why women cannot be ordained as priests despite the little magic ceremonies occurring in protestant worship spaces or wiccan temples for that matter.  Not to worry, I'm not gonna give away any spoilers but I would strongly suggest keeping this nifty little book on your Parish bookself just in case a little visit from Sr Colleen occurs and the pulpit becomes a soapbox for a liberal agenda driven tirade regarding the 'evils' of the hierarchy, of course this would happen while on break from the church sponsored reiki workshop.

And now for the fun!,.(ha!  Bet you thought it was the book,..) The new Translation of Mass, which is set to make its debut this coming Advent is really starting to light fires, and cause graying heads to get even grayer!  The National Crapolic Reporter weighed in with its already prejudiced views with these kinds of stories,..see here .  All of this I find very amusing strangely enough.  These people will jump through rings of fire to show how tolerant Islam is,.but won't give a fair reading to anything even remotely Catholic.  Speaking of the religion of 'peace,' I'm sure spin doctors in every liberal circle are working overtime trying to brainwash everyone into believing that what is happening in Egypt is an isolated incident.  An Imam on a talk show remarked that the 'west' doesn't identify terrorists when they are Christian.  Yes, that's true, because our psychos don't engage in evil in the name of their religion!!  Imagine a priest or minister screaming 'Jesus is God!!!' then blowing himself up.  Don't think so, its more 'Jesus is God' and I'm about to get eaten by a lion, tortured alive, burned or shot at.  Nowadays, the ones doing the shooting?  Yup, you guessed it, the religion of 'peace.'  See here...Liberals its time to put up or shut up,..Liberal Repellent is simple,..call it Truth!  That's what scares them the most.

To conclude liberals, feminazis, pot heads, socialists, and social justice marxist crowd, the time has come to expose your revisionist history complete with its lies and falsehoods (twirls pencil...) so that truth can be told fairly.  No more slanderous attacks on Pope Pius XII (see here ), no more misinformation regarding the Crusades (see here) , the HOMOSEXUAL clergy abuse scandal,..( yup,..right here) or finally the biggest pile of crap perpetrated upon mankind, the imaginary global warming, (wait a minute the earth is cooling itself, we need another slogan,..) 'Climate change' crowd!  (see here)  You can also access different vids from that particular blog.  Now my dear liberal social justice tree hugging crowd, a true dialogue can take place, not the dictatorship of false 'findings' and junk science that you've forced everyone to believe.  Ohhhh, if Chesterton were alive today,.he'd be arrested.

Sacred Heart of Jesus,.........Have Mercy on us!

MASS Confusion? Not Anymore!! R.I.P. 1970s,...See Ya!

What's going on you ask?  Well it looks as if starting this coming Advent,..the new translation of Mass will be implemented in dioceses across Canada and the US!!!!!!! (Cue The Rock's music,...)  Finally!,..Finally!,..Finally the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has returned to its Heart!!!!!  Did it ever leave?  Well not exactly, EWTN always had a beautiful ordinary form liturgy, but most parishes that I experienced, the Mass more often than not left me either scratching my head or contemplating the SSPX!

Crazy Cookoo 'Mass' 1970-2011....RIP.

As a primer, our late Pope, John Paul the Great desired a more faithful translation of the Mass in the vernacular to be introduced.  The original translation was done quickly in the post Vatican II wake and certain elements were not entirely lost, but muddled in ambiguous language.  So a quick translation produced a few 'inconsistancies' and of course it didn't take long for the heterodox eco-spiritual social justice crowd to lump in their 'inclusive' language and turn the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass into at times something resembling WWE Smackdown in Charismatic circles to Pee-Wee's Playhouse in other circles.  The Translation can be found here .  (The link is to the US Catholic Bishop's Conference and from there you can link other places,..) Three notable changes,.The Gloria, The Penitential Rite, and The Creed,..Will it be that drastic?  Of course not!  The texts though will be more Faithful to the Latin, which (,.put down your weed and listen up feminazis,..) always remained the official language of the Church! 

 So far the response has been mixed, my Pastor, a good and Holy priest has begun recatechizing the Parish and has said we should welcome the new Translation,..to that I say AMEN!  There are of course other priests, you know, the kind that don't wear their collars, tolerate everything except Catholicism, and who feel that this is a step backwards,..To them, I say we should smile, tell them God Bless, look deep into their eyes and tell them to 'get a freakin' life..' (uhhh,..with Charity of course ;))  May God Bless all my readers this Thanksgiving! 

St Jean Vianney,.........Ora pro Nobis

Yup,.We are Right on Track!

So England has lost its mind.  It's official, been brewing for some time now but last week's incident has to be the most absurd news story ever covered.  Actually it took me longer than a week to process it.  The leftist elitist shit disturbing media has gone so far over the edge,.that not alot of attention was being paid to it.  What am I speaking about?  Well, the Christian Cafe in England that has banned the Bible!  Yup you heard it,..a 'Christian' Cafe which banned the Bible.  Are they freaking serious?  It appears they are.  See here.  No doubt the readership of 'Confessions' will agree as to what next will come out of the homosexual social justice pro-choice environ-'mentally' conscious (retarded?) tree hugging vegan/vegetarian whatever label human school of Mother earth Gaia bullshit crowd as far as the absurd is concerned, but yet is treated as if its normal.

School of Athens,.

The problem stems once again from mankind's abandonment of 'Reason.'  If you will, 'Logos' stemming from the Greek.  Imagine a world whereby Thales, Anaximandre, Anaxogoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and finally even though he's not Greek,.Aquinas (this is a Catholic blog btw,.;)) all came back to life,..what would they think?  Let's put our cards on the table, they wouldn't philosophize, but they more than likely would turn to heavily medicating themselves in order just to deal with the non-sense before them.  The Greeks, awash with wonder and awe, seeking Truth would find themselves in a world denying God,.(prime mover,..) but worshipping at the throne of Oprah Winfrey.  Denying the marital bonds,.but having to accept homosexual relations as 'normal.'  Denying birth, but having to accept abortion as part of women's health care,..and the list goes on...Instead of the School of Athens painting we'd have something totally different,..I'll give it a shot,..

School of stupid,.

 Do not fret!!  My fellow citizens,..liberalism and its nasty little socialist offspring of incoherance and stupidity is only temporary,..What's next you ask?  Well once again when you look at Europe the answer might be right in front of you.  So keep the political correctness, the 1.3 children, the contraceptive mentality, the socialist governments and remember to always tolerate EVERYTHING except objective truth, because well,..that's closed minded,...Our goal below is almost achieved!  Thank you socialists,.you guys did a bang up job! 

School of Madrasa

Our Lady of Fatima,......Ora pro nobis...

A Link Worth Visiting,..

I don't usually update twice in a week, but recently came across a site that all men and all women should visit called the Porn Effect.  You can access this site here.  I've blogged about the dangers of pornography before and its a subject that is all too often avoided by priests, pastors or any religious figure for that matter.  You want a thesis,..well here's a thesis,.."PORNOGRAPHY DESTROYS PEOPLE, TURNS WOMEN INTO PLAYTHINGS AND EMASCULATES MEN!"  I will be putting it into my 'Links' section as well.  We all struggle with it, and right now its an epidemic.  Back in the eighties you could throw it away but with the internet,..a whole other story. 

St Maria Goretti,...Ora Pro Nobis.

Liberal Openness,..and Other Things that Make me Throw up...

Over the last week, I have followed the latest in the Vatican/SSPX talks in hopes for a mutual reconciliation and finally a normalizing of this priestly fraternity.  A couple of years ago, the Holy See lifted the excommunications on the Society, (some would even argue if they were really even excommunicated...) and thus started the process back to reunification.  Most in the Church are praying,..because well schism is not good.   But as always,.there are some that aren't praying for this reunification, cause well, it would imply a certain 'mindset' in the Vatican.  That mindset of course is a Catholic one!!!

Yup,..so I guess you've guessed that the ones opposed to this reunification are the same people who would love to see a unification of hmmm, let's see Catholics and Hindus,.we could call them 'Hindolicsim!'  (The Pope could say he was reincarnated upward from being a snow owl in a previous life in order to bring the Eucharistic 'meal' to the various caste systems!)  Or maybe they'd like to see a Catholic Muslim hybrid?  'Cathslam'  The only religion whereby metaphysics completely goes out the window!  C'mon liberals get into the 'spirit!'  See how open minded I'm becoming?  Aren't you proud?  Then why is it you only desire tolerance and open mindedness to everybody except the CATHOLIC FAITHFUL!!!  You retrograde 1960s throwaways are the most absurd bunch of burnouts I've ever come into contact with!!!  You'll tolerate a dude wanting to blow himself up in the name of God, claiming that culturally we don't understand him,..yet at the same time, you won't tolerate Marian piety especially among seminarians giving them the code word,.'rigid.'  I've got another codeword,..I call them 'Catholic!'  You know the authentic Christian Faith that was passed down to them from the Apostles who were ordained at the Last Supper???  

Our Lord prayed that his Church may be one as He and the Father are One.  That being said,.reunification with the SSPX is something that all Catholics can pray for.  Perhaps offering a Rosary or even a Mass.  Our Holy Father Benedict XVI has been working overtime under the direction of the Holy Spirit trying to undo false notions and theories that had absolutely NOTHING to do with Vatican II.  Let us pray that the SSPX who consecrated four Bishops without approval of the Holy See (Which is wrong!) and the Vatican (which has presented its terms in form of a document, contents unknown,..) can reach an agreement and relations can be normalized.  As far as the freakos and creepos still running the 'Liturgy Commitee' (Wtf is that anyway?)  the heterodox nuns or woman religious or faithful hermaphrodites or whatever they want to call themselves teaching Yoga, Reiki and even Kama Sutra,..they can all go and,...(won't finish the sentence...;))

I am asking everybody to pray for me as I discern priesthood.  The more I study and even as an external student, the more I find my soul at peace.  Does this mean my writing style will change?  At first I thought it would,..(see a few posts down 'Coffee Break or Crescent Kick?) whereby I say it.  I have since prayed about it.  If God is calling me to priesthood,..He is calling me not to change my approach.  I'm still the Catholic, MMA, Transformers, Social Conservative Dude with big arms, and guess what?  Our Lord and Our Lady must have one great sense of humour!   The call to Holiness is universal,..but as has been said before,..'meekness is NOT weakness!

St Padre Pio,...........Ora pro nobis!