Sometimes to Go Forward, We Need to Step Back.

***This letter written nearly three years ago.***

An Open Letter to Catholic Dissidents...

Confessions of a Thirty Something Cybertronian

First off, I wish you greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. True to Pauline form, I will try to get to my points as quickly as possible. My name is Marco Mastro however I write under a pen name or nickname of Optimusmastro. My style especially with regards to apologetics, comes off sometimes as being rather aggressive and not quite pastoral. I will give you a backround as to where I come from...

I grew up the only child of two parents. They raised me in the Faith, the best way they knew how and still to this day provide me with prayerful support and wise counsel. I went to Catholic elementary school and high school before going to junior college (cegep in Quebec) and subsuquently university. I graduated with a degree in political science and a minor in religious studies. Since university, I have worked in the field of marketing while moonlighting at a gym. It was during my time as a student where my Faith started to mature and according to some 'radicallize.'

If I must, I will chalk my spiritual growth up to the idea of Divine providence. You see, being in political science allowed me to open the door towards an interest in philosophy. My minor however especially during my first semester, polluted my faith and enabled me to lose whatever belief system I had left. This goes to show, that as a teenager, my interest in the Church was to serve as a showpiece to my parents. While I still considered myself 'catholic,' it could be said that I espoused many of the current liberal trends that you as dissidents currently hold as dogma. (ordination of women, gay marriage, eco-spirirtuality..etc). In retrospect, I guess that's why today, I find myself so vehementely opposed to it. Within the religious studies course, my exposure to Catholicism came from such sources as Fr. Richard McBrien, Fr. Hans Kung, various commentaries on the 'Spirit' of the second Vatican council, (Yet we NEVER read the actual Council!) and of course anyone who would advance what the progressives would call 'contemporary' Catholicism. Needless to say, I thought I was going to be the next member of the Jesus Seminar! Forget the opinions of John Paul II,...I had Marcus Borg to decree my version of infallibility!

During this time I would frequent a bookstore in downtown Montreal that sold theological studies. While buying 'On being Christian' by Hans Kung,..I noticed a young priest. I thought to myself, this guy is too young to be a priest and I think I'm gonna engage him in dialogue. Y'know, I felt the need to enlighten this poor guy that it was Paul who founded Christianity and the historical Jesus was a much different person than the 'Christ of Faith.' Yeah,..to say it didn't go as planned would be an understatement. Keep in mind, that through high school, I participated in wrestling, martial arts and hockey. In other words, I was no stranger to confrontation, yet this priest listened to me as I cut my 'promo' and then delivered the most vicious intellectual asskicking I had ever been exposed to. (I was actually drained after he apologetically beat the theological crap out of me!) This priest and I exchanged numbers and are friends to this day. I had never heard of Scott Hahn, Karl Keating, Claude Tremontent, or Father John Corapi(my favorite!!!) In addition to this, I started delving into philosophy especially since I had through my political science degree already been exposed to Descarte, and Immanual Kant. The sad thing was, I had never been exposed to Thomas Aquinas...I thought it was just the name of a school that my cousins in the States went to. It was recommended that I start with Aristotle,..and the rest is history. It took me one year to read the Summa Theologica, and since then, I have read many works by people such as Jacques Maritain and Peter Kreeft.

My return to orthodoxy has caused many even in my own parish to label me 'conservative,' 'rigid'(that one's my favorite!) and medieval. My response is that I'm just Catholic. Since Catholicism is objective, it is neither liberal or conservative, left or right, it just 'is.' Consequently I feel the need to show what I've found and try as best I can to give intellectual assent to the dogmas of the Church.

My letter to you today is to ask what exactly is your mission in the Church? Are you trying to undermine Her authority? What is the point of preaching a pluralistic tolerance of all faiths (which is a good thing,..but not at the expense of Truth!) while campagning against the Motu Propio concerning the Extraordinary Form of Mass? Have you actually read the Second Vatican Council's sixteen documents? Why do you always preach ecumenism when authentic Truth is not your focal point for discussion? Why do you claim to advocate Social Justice, yet at the same time practise a deafening silence when it comes to the defense of the unborn? Would not Social Justice begin with the most innocent of lives? Why do you insist on dialogue and discourse when the Magisterium issues a ruling forbidding something? If you are a priest, and you don't believe in the Real Presence, why did you get ordained? You willingly gave up a family for what exactly? Finally, why do you remain in the Church?

Look, these are but a few questions, but in the spirit of discourse, I would like you to consider them, if you would like to contact me, you can do at my blog,..Confessions of a Thirty Something Cybertronian

God Bless,

Marco/Optimusmastro

Addendum: This was an article written nearly three years ago. As of this writing, my Parish has a solid priest, my 'favorite' Fr Corapi is apparently seeking refuge in the Bermuda Triangle under his Blacksheepdog persona,.(pray for him) and that young priest is now a Bishop. God works in mysterious ways,..By the way, I'll be meeting with the vocations director of Archdiocese of Montreal,..Time to write my letter to the Archbishop. I'll always be a cybertronian, but will now prepare to commence as a seminarian God willing...

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

Catholic or Country

As a kid,.I always admired the US.  Every time I would get a GI JOE action figure vehicule, I would throw away the Canadian stickers and want to put American ones on it.  It wasn't that I was against Canada, but I was a realist.  Our military fleet may as well be a couple of canoes and some propeller planes especially compared to the US.  That's again not say that our military is weak,.on a scale compared to the US, it is somewhat infinetly smaller.  We simply do not have the population or budget to compare.  Similarly, my dad would bring me to the old Montreal Forum to watch WWF, and the whole place would be chanting USA! USA!  to cheer on Hulk Hogan.  As Canadians we are usually only patriotic when it comes to hockey!!!

Some sad news.  A year and a half ago, I wrote a post critiquing Obama's policies.  The email that came in accused me of rascism, being intolerant,..the whole gamut...Well President Obama and his merry band of dissidents in the name of healthcare have now forced the Church's back against the wall.  President Obama's healthcare plan will now force Catholic doctors and taxpayers to check their consciences in their back pocket.  Yup so much for freedom of religion.  This week I will be writing a more in depth blog post on the ramifications of this now famous phone call to the president of the USCCB, Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan.  American Catholics will now have to choose between the most pro-abortion president the States has ever seen and be called rascist by liberal elist media types like Michael Moore or return to the Republican party, which hopefully won't implement this vile agenda.  The USA once stood for freedom....Please refrain from emailing me nasty comments,..More on this story,..in the meantime as this news broke, and we all knew it would,..our Holy Father's warning to the US Bishops.  See here and see here. 


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

Ontological Change and the JPII Generation,.....

So,.yes, I couldn't come up with an adequate title for today's blog post,..but if you say the title aloud, using a Macho Man Randy Savage voice, and ending it with an 'Ohhh Yeeeaaah!,' it kinda sounds cool!   Today I announce to you a great joy,.a friend who I met through a priest friend of mine will become a priest!  That's right, tonight is the ordination to the priesthood of Jason Piper.  God is good!

Over the last three years that I have been blogging, a constant has always been present, that a new generation of priests is on the horizon.  The Blessed Mother has assembled an army, a blue army if you will, to share in Her Divine Son's priesthood and victimhood.  One word describes these men, orthodox!  In the wake of the Second Vatican Council, their has been an unrelenting attack on the holy priesthood.  The sex scandals, the corruption, and heterodox Bishops flourishing heresy everywhere.  The enemy subverted, and tried his best to take apart the Bride of Christ, think about it,.no valid priest?  Then no valid Eucharist.  Yet through these turbulant waters, Our Lord never went against His promise in St Matthew's Gospel.  'The gates of hell will not prevail against Her!'  The last fifty years saw diocese after diocese, dismantle their infrastructure, spiritually and physically.  Men called to priesthood were rejected as having an 'outdated' vision of the Church and men with psychological problems, homosexual orientations and heterodox views were allowed to be ordained.  Once again, think about when you encounter an unfaithful priest,..ask yourself why he wanted to freely give up a wife and kids, but yet did not believe in the Church's dogmas?  It doesn't make any sense!  Hope, though was on the way.

The Holy Spirit, flashed the batsignal out to Poland, and in 1978, a true warrior was installed as the Pope, and this goofy generation's days were numbered!  Pope John Paul II burst onto the scene, reiterated traditional Catholic beliefs, re-asserted the Faith and sent fruit loop theologians packing!  (So long, Fr Hans!!!)  The thing is, what made these pot head hippies nervous, was that through his charisma, his manhood and his example, he inspired a whole generation!  World Youth Days, a resurgence of Thomism and a vibrant attitude saw vocations spring up all over the world, especially Africa.  In the west, a different story, the hippie residue, saw to it that vocations were near extinction so they (cuckoo bishops..) could ordain woman, and the rest of their 'caca' ideas...Who can forget the scene in South American of John Paul II berating a certain liberation 'theologian' Ernesto Cardenal... Marxism and Catholicism don't mix,..its great to  feed the hungry, but invite them to their true calling in the Kingdom of Heaven!  Not a social revolution hijacking authentic social justice!  So, seminarians began to 'play the game.'  Flying under the radar and maintaining a complete trust in Divine providence, these men told their formators all the syrupy crap they wanted to hear, then after ordination, they put on a cassock!  Soon, solid Bishops were installed, and yes, even in the west, the gurgling death rattle of the 'Sprit of VII' crowd could be heard.  Hippie priests were on the way out and being replaced by younger orthodox men who understood their calling and were ready to implement the REAL Vatican II, not the crap they had been spoon fed by their formators! 

 So here we stand at the threshold of hope.  The tale of the tape reads as follows, you are looking at future priest who stands about 6'4 and has arms like tree trunks.  A guy whose 'been there, done that' and is freely laying down his life for Christ.  Truthfully, our Lord knows the battle within His Holy Church, with secularism breathing down Her neck and Islam positioning itself for another crack at world domination,..(Yes I went there, all you priests and religious, get heads out of the sand and wake the f@#$  up! )   No more gangly little fruitcake who can't catch a football, let alone throw one!  True manhood, a warrior whose is about to be ordained!  Please offer prayers for all of us in the diocese of Montreal and by extension all priests, worldwide, especially those discerning the call,.. Devotion to the Eucharist, devotion to the Blessed Mother, and here we have it,.As of tomorrow, Father Jason Piper! 


St Jean Vianney,................ora pro nobis!

Unity.

That they may all be one. So true in today's context does Jesus's prayer ring aloud. Today in Canada begins the week for Christian Unity. We as Christians, Catholic, and non-catholic (all 745 997 differents brands, sects, denominations and groups..no disrespect just sayin') are encouraged to pray for Christ's will that we may unite. Obviously the root causes of division is sin, plain and simple. There were people in the Church that needed to be called out for their crap and they were, initially Martin Luther did a good thing. Sadly then his ego took over. My friends, every year this week comes around I get the uncomfortable feeling that we as Catholics, at least the establishment(local not the Vatican), are willing to sell their mother (Sometimes the Blessed Mother!!!) to a pet store in order to have 'friendly' relations with the Unitarian Pentecostabaptists down the street!

My friends, when Jesus prays that we may all be one, He does not mean that we compromise Truth in doing so. As Catholics we have the fullness of Faith, plain and simple. This is simply not our 'opinion' as some cute little clergy with no balls and afraid of their own shadow like to put forth, this is FACT! Period! Exclamation mark! Any protestant, can trace their lineage back and see that whatever truth(s) they possess are first and formost Catholic. Unless you get to certain types of 'baptists' who believe in a 'trail of blood.' Apparently 'true' Christians went underground, (so far underground they reached Krang and Shredder's Technodrome...) and only emerged after Luther posted his 95theses...Sorry my baptists friends, but this story is so freakin' ridiculous that it can make a mormon blush with his whole 'God lives on a planet near Kolob..' Stan Lee should obtain the rights, Marvel Comics could make a fortune! I would read it!

All kidding aside, our late Holy Father, John Paul II took incredible pains to apologize, issue an encyclical 'Ut Unun Sanct' and reach out to every Christian. He received baptists, reformed baptists, pentecostals, reformed pentecostals, reformed presbytarians, regular presbytarians, who knows, presbytarian 'al dente' (you catch my drift?) On it went. There was a joint declaration with the Lutherans, agreeing that we are 'saved' by Grace! My question to you Lutherans,..why do you still exist? John Paul II lived his title 'Pontifex' bridge builder. Any unity must come from Truth, and Love,.they can't be seperated. So while we do pray for re unification,..we cannot do it at the expense of dogma.  To my protestant friends, pray, study and check your ego in your back pocket.  To my Catholic friends, we(all of us) need to start living our Faith better,.and for that, we can use some evangelicals as a great example. 

St Jose Maria Escriva,.....ora pro nobis.

Michael Voris and Modern Martyrs...

It seems everyone today tries to appease everyone else.  Ideologies are easily set aside in order to accomodate everybody's belief, right to believe it, right to practice it and right to uphold it.  Every belief that is, except one, (drum roll,.....) CHRISTIANITY!!!!  In particular the Catholic Church.  At almost every turn, there seems to be an attack, only these 'attacks' are not from an external source.  (Yes, Satan if you really look to the absolute real source...) These attacks come from entities operating under the guise of so-called progressive 'catholicism' such as 'Call to Action,'  'Development and Peace,' and 'Voice of the Faithful.'  They also come from ideological movements such as Liberation Theology.  Think critically my friends, and look at the latest stuff happening.  Fr Frank Pavone, accused of financial irreguliarities while directing 'Priests For Life.'  His Bishop, Patrick Zurek has assigned him a convent where he continues his ministry.  He has appealed to the Vatican which is his right to do so.  He has always been a priest in good standing.  Next up, we have the whole Fr Corapi/Blacksheepdog mess.  Yes, since the new year, the website has disappeared, nevertheless, Fr Corapi's talks worldwide have brought Catholics back to their faith with enthusiasm and downright gusto!   Satan definetly saw him as a target. 

The most recent one, deserves its own paragraph.  Michael Voris, the voice of RealCatholicTv has been ordered by the archdiocese of Detroit to conform with canon law and not use the word 'Catholic' in his ministry.  My question is,..What the hell else is he supposed to call it?  The accusers, (remnant/disgruntled hippies and feminazis from the Bishop Gumbleton days,..) are using Canon law to justify their claims.  This issue has yet to be resolved.  Why are people so afraid of Voris?  Is it his forthright style?  His 'tell it like it is attitude?'  Or maybe his magic hair?  Personally Michael Voris is the breath of fresh air that I and countless other Catholic men need!  I highly doubt Bishop Vigneron is the one behind this, but I would suspect that his staffers upset at the New Liturgy Translation, are lashing out and trying to pin down Voris for his 'dangerous' (code word for truthfull) commentary.

The groups I mentioned will get there own spotlight,.and perhaps liberation 'theology' will get a few posts treated to it.  As Catholic men, we are responsible for our children and those under our care,..Let's start by asking the heavy questions??  You ready?  I'll start.  'Why are we so concerned about Michael Voris' ministry and threatening him with the full weight of canon law,.yet,..Fr Richard McBrien is still allowed to teach 'theology' at Notre Dame?'  (crickets chirping,..).  Oh,.you think I forgot?  Development and Peace has been bs'ing their way into the faithful Canadians' pocketbooks and brainwashing people with 'Cardinal Bernadin inspired seamless garment crap.'  Here is great link,..Lifesite News .  Ooops, forgot!  Liberals can't link to this one, considered too dangerous might harm their self esteem, so I'll give you another beauty,. Heresy Hunter!  This fellow Canadian has been exposing Development and Peace's big pile of steaming hot garbage for a while now!  (I put the link to the blog,..liberals seriously, read it the whole blog, you'll laugh and might learn something!)


Pope St Pius X,...........ora pro nobis.

Optimusmastro Weighs in on New Cardinals as well as Nash/Warrior Twitter...

Grumpy Old Men Give Me an Idea!

The latest twitter news has Kevin Nash calling out The Ultimate Warrior to an MMA style shoot match.  Wow,..your thinking it must be a slow news day!   Actually I will tie it in to the Church a little bit later,..So the backround,..a tweet to Warrior asking why he doesn't dye his hair and come back to WWE,..Warrior responds, that 'He's not a dic*head looking to steal the limelight from younger wrestlers.'  Diesel fires back on Warrior's twitter challenging him to an MMA match!  Here's the kicker, not the fact that these two are wayyyy past their primes, but that none of them have any backround in MMA fighting!  (Nash's would tear his quad getting into the Octogon!)  Warrior?  Well, I admire his views, intensity and lifestyle, but C'mon!  First off, wrestling wise, he wouldn't know a wrist lock from a wrist watch!  They'd probably mutally guillotine each other and pass out!  Seriously, Nash, though a street fighter, I think would lose to Warrior,..Warrior has a lower centre of gravity, and thus I could see Warrior on his back allowing Nash to tackle him.  From the guard position, Warrior key locks or Kimora Big Daddy Cool, and big Diesel, will be parked on the side of the road out of gas!  Again, this scenerio only occurs if both know what the hell there doing!  They'll no comebacks or shaking the ropes to regain strength after you've taken a legitamite ass-kicking.  Though its receiving a lot of publicity, I think the only cool thing about it would be the build up,.and maybe the 'entrances!' ;)

Now, as this issue was taking place, it got me thinking,..hmmm (lightbulbs flashing,..) what if someone in the orthodox Catholic world were to call out a heterodox?  I could just see it now,..Cardinal Mahoney calls Cardinal Burke,..'Closed minded' on Twitter,..Cardinal Burke responds calling him out!  Not to an MMA fight,..but to an actual 'dialogue!' (their words..)  Y'know one that would actually culminate in a settled issue!   Better still what if Michael Voris called out Richard McBrien!  I definetly would love to see that debate!  My friends, as much as can have fun with these issues,..we need to take them seriously!  We are at the crossroads and not only is our Church at stake,..but so are souls. 

St Michael the Archangel,...................ora pro nobis.

Scorpions and Cardinals

Twenty-two new Cardinals!!!!  Congratulations to the 22 newly appointed Cardinals who will be elevated to fill the ranks of the college in order to elect the next Pope!  Among the notables, are Archbishop Collins of Toronto (solid) and Archbishop Dolan of New York (solid).  Can we see a trend here folks?  Solid.  Vatican II is on deck and the Holy Spirit is ready to implement the Council.  The last fifty or so years, the poltergeist known as the 'spirit of VII' has been exorcized and the Holy Father Benedict 16th has been the lead Ghostbuster!  (cue song!)  So far, John Paul II is now a 'Blessed,' in 2007 we received the Motu Propio freeing the Tridentine Mass, and this past Advent, we received the New Translation of the Roman Missal.  God is good.  I feel like singing,..(my best Klaus Meine voice echoeing the Scorpions second biggest hit after 'Rock you like a Hurricane,')

 Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow share their dreams
With you and me
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night
Where the children of tomorrow dream away
In the wind of change

The wind of change
Blows straight into the face of time
Like a stormwind that will ring the freedom bell
For peace of mind
Let your balalaika sing
What my guitar wants to say.......

Don't worry Modernists,..cheer up you still have Cardinal Mahoney!!  I mean, he's not 80 yet,...;)

John Hagee 'Blessed Virgin Mother of God.'

From the files of 'Let the Holy Spirit penetrate people's hearts' comes this story straight out of San Antonio Texas.  Let me just say that it is extremely rare that I post three days in a row,..but sometimes stuff happens that needs commentary, but more importantly needs prayers!  This is unbelievably joyful news.  As Catholics, we are incredibly blessed to know that Our Lady will put her mantle over us when fly to her protection.  Obviously this Grace stems from Jesus who is the source of all,..but Mary will always never be refused anything from her Son.  See the Wedding Feast of Cana. (John 2:1)  Besides we already know that she is the Immaculate Conception (Luke 1:28).  Yup!,..ITs riiiiiiight there in de Biiiiiibullll! 

Back to Pastor Hagee who ministers a Church called Cornerstone Church,.in the past Hagee has been accused of Anti-Catholic bias.  Sometimes referring indirectly to the Church as the whore of Babylon, critizing the Church's handlings of the Jews during World War II and lambasting the Church for Her role in the Crusades.  The first point is debatable, but so what if he did?,..He subscribes to a different theology and is genuinely concerned about our souls as Catholics!  Not like some modernist 'Catholics' or 'mainstream' prots who believe everyone goes to Heaven,..uhhh,.not what Jesus said!  I say good for him if he has balls!  On the second point regarding the Church's (Pope Pius XII) handling of the Shoa,..Yes he's wrong, but I think first and foremost we need to critique the revisionist historians who have an authentic hatred for God and his Holy Church putting forth propaganda.  The third point again, falls into leftist fiction,..as plainly said, if it weren't for the Crusades, we'd all be muslim today.

During the 2007 US election campaign he stirred controversy by endorsing McCain.  Bill Donahue, who does a lot of good work came out denouncing McCain as aligning himself with an anti-Catholic preacher.  (Again debatable..)  What followed was Hagee personally writing an apology to Bill Donahue,.which was sincere and classy.  Then 'other' stuff started happening, such as the Holy Father's visit to the US,...So let's start with some of Pastor Hagee's letter to Donahue.  See here.  I don't feel the need to paraphrase as the letter clearly indicates a spirit of good will.  If you noticed he also gets his facts straight with regards to Pope Pius XII and his personally interveneing on behalf on the Jews!  Next we have this beautifully written piece which appears in the Washinston Times entitled Thank-you Pope Benedict,..see here.  Okay so we've come this far,..Yes, the loud dude on TBN,.otherwise known as the smorgasboard of protestant opinion network,..(please don't count Fr Michael Manning as Catholic..) is extremely open to Catholcism,..and sees us as true believers in Christ.  I have said before on this blog, that while I may disagree on many issues regarding evangelical Christianity,..there is no doubt in my mind that we as Catholics could take a lesson in living the Faith from our seperated brethren.  Pro-Life,.pro-traditional marriage, they don't cower or wimper in the face of adversity.  They are active in the public square, and man,..are they on fire!  I've also mentioned that I do believe, and we are seeing it among their pastors,..that they(evangelicals..) are about twenty-or so years away from discovering Mary in the Bible. 

Now we can come back to the title of this post.  A recent John Hagee sermon, called Mary, 'The Blessed Virgin Mother of God.'  WOW!!!  Need I say more?  He affirmed Theotokos!   Now look at his evidence, his two letters, his wife's Catholic upbringing, his affinity for the Old Testament (which by the way, my protestant friends prefigures Mary at every turn, Genesis 3:15, Genesis 3:20, Samuel 2: 1-10, ,..names such as Eve, Mother of all living, daughter of Zion, morning star,..) and his ministry supported  a convent!!!!  Methinks we'll see Pastor John on a future episode of EWTN's Journey Home!...hmmm..

My protestant friends, I've said this before,..you lose NOTHING of your faith and zeal for Christ coming into the Church, instead you gain the Eucharist!  That puzzle that you were trying to find that piece for is all there,.the intellectual tradition, the history, Apostolic Succession, and yes the fullness of Truth!  Jesus established one Church and despite all Her blemishes is still the beacon of light for humanity.  Think about it, if the Catholic Faith was not divinely protected, it would have rotted away centuries ago,..All those corrupt Popes you speak of (3 of them!!!) could have easily changed a dogma or doctrine to suit their interests,..(Muhammed in the Qur'an anyone?...) but they didn't!  The hijacking of Vatican II by the modernist crowd could have easily conquered Her,..but She's back up again!  The sex scandals, the corruption,..and guess what ?  We still produced Mother Teresa, Brother Andre, and Padre Pio,.. St Peter denied our Lord three times and was still put in charge!  Guess what we also produced?  Your Bible!!!!!!!!!  Yes, there are thousands who leave the Catholic Church because either they weren't being fed, or worse, it had become part of their culture so the relationship with Jesus wasn't there, but again on the other side, there are much more protestant pastors converting!  Why, because they understake an exercise in futility trying to find the historical Church (Alex Jones conversion) or they try to intellectually take Her apart,.( Scott Hahn conversion) . 

To conclude,..Pastor Hagee, its gonna be tough,.yes you will lose your congregation, maybe your fame..Who knows, maybe you will be called to serve as a permanent deacon, or even still a priest! ( There are exceptions in canon law in the Roman rite regarding converts)  Pray, fast, discern what the Holy Spirit is telling you!  'One flock, one Shepherd?'  We need you,..The Church needs you,..  On a side note, Shawn Michaels, HBK is a member of your community, a lapsed Catholic who found Christ,..bring him home to the Eucharist!  (see here )

Holy Mary Mother of God,............ora pro nobis.

BlackSheepDog Euthanized?

A quick post today just to update the blogosphere on the status of Fr John Corapi.  We all know the story, so its no use repeating it,..just to say that yesterday, I received several emails asking about his status.  Upon visiting his site, I found it taken down, along with his youtube and twitter accounts.  Please offer prayers for Father Corapi, let us hope he has returned to his Order and complied with their directives.  No one knows the entire story, nevertheless, Fr Corapi was a religious and thus promised obediance to his superiours.  Right or wrong, obey your vows, and let God figure out the rest!  Remember that Padre Pio was confined to his cell for almost two years, and in humility he obeyed.  Today he is St Pio of Pietrelcina. 

For more info contact here,..http://www.theblacksheepdog.us/

Padre Pio,........ora pro nobis.

Ultimate Warrior Reality 2,...

Wow!  I can't believe I'm blogging about this guy again, but it is just too awesome!  The Ultimate Warrior will be launching his own reality TV series shortly, whether it will be web based or not remains to be seen.  The Warrior for me as a kid was larger than life, but for me right now as as adult, is a beacon of inspiration, telling it like it is and not taking any BS from anyone! ( Warrior Teaser Trailer )  Yes, there is some language but so what?  We live in a society where blasphemy is considered okay but the so-called 'F' bomb is wrong!!  C'mon folks its the reverse!  Warrior takes these up and coming bands with their cute little 125lb rock star image of drinking and partying and makes men out of them!  Trains them physically, and motivates them intellectually into understanding why we take better care of our cars than our bodies when once again it should be the other way around!

Now imagine we had the same program for priests and religious.  Too often we see the overweight, effeminate priest with his sanctuary decorated full of velvet banners and bunny rabbits!  Where have all the f'n men gone?  The last sixty years saw the Catholic Church who produced giants like St Peter (crucified upside down) and St Mark, (martyred by being dragged through the streets) turn into Pee Wee's Playhouse!!!!!!  I've said this before,..I truly believe that the Warrior will be in full communion with the Church one day.  His desire for Truth on the intellectual level is incredible,..so its a matter of time....Then I hope he cleans house at chancery offices everywhere,..Imagine the little fruitcakes in charge of dialogue and discussion getting pummelled by clothelines,.for their own good! 

 versus,.....(who would win???) ;)

As a fitness trainer and potential seminarian,..I plan to continue training,.weights, mma,.anything.  We need balance in life,.or else we become weak.  Vocations whether to priesthood or marriage, demand that the best be brought out of us.  Christ will take our talents, and then purify them to serve His Church!  Any priest or religious who wants a quick workout template, feel free to email me,..just give me a rough idea of your height and weight,..as well as any injuries you might have.  God Bless, and Happy New Year to all!

St Ignatius of Loyola,........ora pro nobis.