Guilty Pleasures,..

Too often my Catholicity becomes almost pharisee-ical (is that a word?,..Well it is now!! Booyaaa!) that I forget simple pleasures such as humour and sarcasm, two qualities for which I am/was known for.  Admittedly, there has been times when I could have easily described myself as 'rigid' and 'reactionary,' no doubt readers of this blog have noticed.  Well, that being said,..I would like to give a shout out to the Left Footer,..a blogger out of Poland by way of England.  (Link will be put up in the 'Links and Stuff..' section)  This dude has the faithfulness of Mother Teresa, the wit of Chesterton, and the comedic delivery of Leslie Nielson.  His poems well written and deliver there message, plus you get to laugh your ass off at the same time!  What's my point?  Well to show people that just because we are orthodox, we are not all 'doom' and 'gloom.'  Okay so after this cheap plug for my english friend, on to more serious matters...Well not really.

Optimusmastro's Twisted Sense of Humour

Avec le Bloc,..On bloque!

So should read the logo of everyone's favorite tax payer funded waste of time politicians occupying Canadian federal politics!  It would seem, that in light of the latest Harper budget, that the government is set to fall.  Michael(no charisma) Ignatieff and Jack(the Communist) Layton will team with the separatisssss to defeat the Conservatives when the house votes on the budget tomorrow.  Election fever!  wooohooo!  Yeah right,.Jack Layton has a spine made out of cartilage at best, and nobody in Canada wants an election.  Okay, so by now, you've realized this post is not going to be religious, instead political!  (the other controversy...!)  So what am I going to speak about today?  Simple.  The absurdity regarding the existance of the Bloc Quebecois.

As usual, a primer.  The Bloc was formed in the wake of the failure of the Meech Lake Accord in 1990.  Originally comprised of both liberals and conservatives(among them Lucien Bouchard) they chose to sit as independants in the house only to serve Quebec's interests and prepare it for eventual separation.  To this day, this imaginary dream has yet to see it's fruition.  Oh well,.that's another conversation for another day.  (Meech Lake was an attempt by Mulroney to amend the constitution to include Quebec's signature..).  Gilles Duceppe, (see photo) was the first elected official to this fledgling new 'party.'  So,..here's the kicker,.the Bloc only runs candidates in Quebec and openly campaigns though sometimes very ambiguously for Quebec separation!  Way to go Canadian political system! We freely elect treason artists, pay them,. and for what?  To stall parliament and break up the country. 

A short post today, because well,.tomorrow is the no-confidence vote in the House, and for all intents and purposes it looks like we will be going to the polls.  My prediction?  A conservative majority because of Ontario.  Over here in Quebecestan, the Bloc will gain seats, though not in Montreal (where there is money...) but in the rural ridings with populations of 12 people and two cows...

Not gonna invoke a Saint on this one,......Peace.

Lenten Reflections and a Potential New Beginning.

Well,.it would seem the silence of Optimusmastro can no longer contain itself.  Too many world events, scandals and personal growth result in a blog post very erratic, contemplative and as usual controversial .  To begin, our thoughts and prayers go out to the people in Japan.  A recent Earthquake(9 on the Richter scale) devasted Japan, and caused a subsequent Tsunami to wash ashore.  On top of that the fall out has affected a few Nuclear reactors causing a worldwide panic.  Economic issues aside, (Japan is the world's third largest economy) the humanitarian crisis has no doubt been at the forefront of this catastophic situation.  What made matters worse, was as a Canadian, our indifferentism manifested itself with a complete lack of prioritization.  Newspapers and talk shows ran amok with opinion and news not on Japan, but on a hockey incident involving Max Paccioretty and Zdeno Chara.  Chara turnbuckled Paccioretti and thus sent Canadians frothing at the mouth!   (Talk about misplaced priorities?!?)  Was it a bad hit?   Well, ya, but compared to a near nuclear meltdown, I think our thoughts and prayers could have been distributed a little differently.  (Note:  Dear Hockey fans,..I too am a hockey fan, but please get your heads out of your asses,..signed,. a concerned citizen.)

Moammar Gaddaffi, champion defender of the religion of peace has been causing quite a world ruckus whereby he's been firing weapons at his own people.  Libya, has been following the lead of other Arab,...err,.no,..MUSLIM countries and attempting to undertake a reform through a type of people's revolution.  Egypt, Tunisia and other countries were/are demanding change in their respective regimes and thus potentially paving the way for democracy.  Well,.Libya is a little different, just a little...You see Libyan leader Moammar Gaddaffi has decided to kill his own protestors,..and the left including Barrack Hussain were a little late in realizing this magnitude.  You see, in the name of tolerance, peace and every other buzzword, 'right' and 'wrong' never seem to factor into the equation!  (Also, interesting to note that Barrack Hussain's Pastor, Jeremiah Wright is chummy chummy with Gaddaffi,..not surprising!)  To 'bottom line' it,..Gaddaffi needs to be removed plain and simple, and no it is not a crusader mission of aggression! 


Fr John Corapi, the popular priest has, through his website released that there have been letters of accusations sent to several Bishops regarding sexual missconduct and drug abuse with several women.  Fr Corapi is vigourously denying these charges and until he's proven guilty, I will stand by him.  Every Lent it would seem, a new attack is launched with regards to someone trying to undermine a 'good' that is happening. Well,..Fr Corapi got in front of his accusers and is calling them out!  Good for you Father!  (I wouldn't be surprised if his accusers weren't liberal weak kneed bishops attempting to discredit his reputation and name,..a sad reflection on my part,..)

As far as the quagmire that is my emotional stability, a new/old front has surfaced on the horizon.  Where this adventure will lead me,.no one knows.  I will say this;  The Greeks taught that one of the degrees of Love is 'Philia.'  My new adventure has begun with Philia(Friendship), and never have I been happier.  The one thing that I can appreciate is that despite anything else, this aspect is now deepening to see if it can be taken to another level.  The qualites that I appreciate in Philia, only amplify themselves watching a selfless individual putting herself always at the service of others.  Her own notwitstanding, but two others who are sorely in need of a true authentic role model.  How many people in life can say they've met a truly self giving person?  After this week, I can attest to it. 



Our Lady of Akita,...Ora Pro Nobis

For Lent,..Let's give up 'Social Justice.'

Being a proud Canadian, I have come to accept certain realities pertaining to my 'home and native land' as a matter of culture bordering on patriotism.  As Canucks, we are not exactly known as a 'superpower' in terms of military strength, and our laid back attitude is known world wide for being a 'too nice' and too (ready for it??)  Socialist.  Well this week, inserted into the Parish bulletin was a little gem put forth by Development and Peace, a 'Catholic' organization run by people so left of centre, they make Lenin look like Stephen Harper.  It seems, with the approval of the Canadian Catholic Bishops no doubt,. we can all make our lent a little more social justice conscious.  Well,..isn't that the silliest pile of bullshit perpetrated as yet to date by the eco-feminazi terrorist heterodox forces still in full control of the Canadian hierarchy!  So let's see, let's not have a 'call to holiness' instead let's make sure the trees and whales are safe, along with migrant cell phone workers getting recompensated for suffering carbon emmissions.  (Or whatever else can distract from pro life issues,... no mention of abortion/gay marriage..)  So by now your thinking when is this guy gonna stop ranting about social justice?!?  Well the answer is when social justice actually becomes social justice instead of a cleverly (not so much anymore...) disguised form of marxism used to keep people in ignorance.  (See my posts on Socialism and its relationship/denial of original sin...)   So we Canadians, through Development and Peace tag teamed with heterodox 'theoligians' will mark our foreheads with ashes this ash Wednesday, and you'd better make sure those ashes are eco-friendly!  Next we'll suffer through yet another Lenten Retreat reaffirming our 'okayness' and celebrating the US's election of Obama,..(YES WE CAN!) Sometimes the ridiculousness gets so out of control, I feel the need to call in Christina Beattie and the Young Americans for Freedom to purge Canada of this socialist crap!  Gregory Baum, Jack Layton, Gilles Duceppe, Michael Igniatieff beware!!!!!  (insert GI Joe Season 1 theme...)

So my fellow Canadians, let's all take this opportunity this Ash Wednesday to medidate upon Jesus in the desert.  The Ashes, calling to mind our own mortality, that we are dust.  Our sins caused the Passion and death of our Lord.  His Ressurection gives us reassurance of Eternal life!  This Lent let's all give up the social justice bullshit and concentrate on our relationship spiritually with God.  Perhaps a conscience exam before we go to bed, frequent confession maybe a little corporal mortification.  What we give up, we do freely and thus we suffer.  Let's not forget to unite that suffering to the Cross.  Canada,.our country was founded by the two solitudes, french and english, Catholic and protestant.  Quebec, my province at one time the jewel of the Vatican and North America's Catholic enclave has now become more secularized than an atheist visiting Amsterdam,.all because of this mentality that although dying, isn't dying out fast enough!  This Lent, let's offer it up for our immortal souls,..and leave the water supply in Bangladesh for a later thought.  We let Jesus fix our souls, I have no doubt the rest will flow from it.

Our Lady of Fatima,....Ora Pro Nobis.

Wacky World of the Sedevacante,..the Sequel

Yes, I know that my readership is used to my endless rants against modernist heresy polluting the metaphysical landscape with lies, half truths and just overall subjective nonesense, but every now and then the crazies come out in full force and warrant my attention.  How often can it said that I rail on these guys?  Well, it seems not often enough!  The last post in which I referenced these uhh,..'people,' I compared them to people who view Elvis regularly, get abducted by Aliens or are awaiting the return of Tupac Shakur.  This past week, I was privy to a conversation in which biting my lip was the pen ultimate act of resistance.  Did I want to retaliate?  Actually no,.but I nearly laughed my ass off and concluded that this dude, as sincere as he was,..was badly in need of mental therapy (yes,..despite last week's post.)

So, once again, let's set the stage shall we?  Who are the sedevacante?  They are a group of 'traditionalist' catholics who claim that the last valid Pope was Pius XII.  Subsequent Popes have preached heresy (according to them) or have been everything from duplicate imposters to satanic infiltrators.  The sad reality is that we've seen this stuff before.  Every council has always produced years of confusion, division and downright schism, Vatican II being no different!  Yet still the crazies persist, blindly accusing the post conciliar Church of being something that it isn't.  Obviously the same can be said for the 'Spirit of VII' crowd, but the danger with the Sedevacantist position is that it ultimately becomes yet another form of protestantism.  Nowhere in VII does the Church make any dogmatic pronouncement!  Read the friggin documents people!  VII was/is a pastoral council put forth in good faith by Blessed John XXIII in order to face the problems of the world which the Church was experiencing.  Does VII say anything about the Mass being 'versus populem?'  NO!  Does VII say anything about the Mass not retaining parts in Latin?  NO!  Even in Nostra Aetate, which the Traditionalist schismatics love to pick apart,..The Church does not relinquish the claim that She and She alone is the One True Church, but instead brings about a more pastoral/relationship approach by comparing degrees to it,.(potency!)  Guess who else did that?  Aquinas!  Arghhhhhhh!

So now, I'll describe the discussion.  It started off pretty friendly enough, with both us articulating difficulties with implementing the actual Council as it has been hijacked by the 'spirit of..' crowd.  Next up we spoke about Assisi, something that I as a Catholic have never really been comfortable with.  ('Assisi' was a gathering of different religious leaders from different backrounds all praying to 'God' in the name of peace.  Granted, I don't know the details on it, but for me it seemed like an exercise in empty inter faith/ecumenism,.the lowest common denominator kind..Where was the call to evangelization?  To Truth?!?) So, back to the conversation.  I asked if he had ever heard of the SSPX or FSSP?  To my delight he said yes.  So we continued speaking regarding the canonical status of both groups, one being irregular (the SSPX).  Then it happened...Very 'matter of factly' I was informed that despite their good intentions there hasn't been a true Pope since Pius XII.  Yup.  Vatican II was inspired by Satan, and thus through an infiltration, the Church apostasized and became the 'Novus Ordo' religion, based on false ecumenism.  The danger with any heresy, is that it contains elements of truth within its message.  This was no different and while my readership is familiar with the modernist nonsense that we frequently have to endure through so-called 'social justice' priests, liberation theology and piss poor liturgy, this has left an almost vacuum for these extreme cases on the right of the spectrum to go by undetected.  Naturally the conversation was one sided from that point on, as I was shown the error of my ways in remaining with the post conciliar Church..(no mention of Matthew's gates of hell...) and had to bite my lip as he accused John Paul II of being demonic.  I truly felt sorry for this protestant dude.  Yes, protestant because that's really what the sedevacante become. 

To conclude, upon my reversion to the Faith, I too noticed many wrongs with the Church.  Stuff that 'I' wanted to right.  I think you get my point.  Our faith is a gift from God to be freely accepted by us.  We are on the Holy Spirit's time, not our own.  Through Spiritual Direction, I learned, (correction, still learning,..) to be more compassionate and understanding that Jesus meets us where we are, and then invites us to be perfected.  A great example of this is the story of the Samaritain woman at the well.  The Sedevacante protestants too often forget Jesus's quote about the Church in Matthew,.it can never fall into error! 

St Thomas Aquinas,.......Ora pro nobis!

St Augustine/ Fr Euteneur

Its been over a week since I last posted,..and to tell you the truth, my faith has not been shaken,.but it has been attacked.  Every few months, I realize that I use the blogging community as a therapeutic blanket absorbing the twisted and fragile adventure that is my faith.  So many things, and it isn't getting any easier!  At times, my faith, though beautiful as it is has caused me mental angst and breakdown.  Last week, I found myself negotiating with Jesus,..'What do You want, and why me?'  Sure the moments of joy are great, but the trials are beginning to become demonic.  Prior to my conversion experience, it was so much easier.  My life was a complete sensual adventure and now I'm finding myself struggling with even the most mundane of things, finding sin everywhere.  Rigid? Perhaps or so I've been called, but by who?  The answer is always the same, people whose character and mindset, though identifying themselves culturally Catholic are about as 'catholic' as Ellen Degenerres.

So why the melancholy opening paragraph, because the media much to its disgusting self serving end has now pointed its gun, lock, stock and barrel and Fr Tom Euteneur.  A little backround,..Fr Euteneur, a priest in the state of Florida stepped down as president of a pro-life group in the States.  The reasons, at the time being cited were essentially because his Bishop called him back to his diocese under very mysterious circumstances.  Along with doing work with the pro-life group, Fr Euteneur also worked in the ministry of exorcism and subsequently published two books regarding what is often a forgotten (on purpose?) sacramental work.  Readers may remember him as the priest who went toe to toe with Sean Hannity on Fox news, for guess what?   Yup!  Defending the Church's teaching!  The shock!  The horror!  Anyway, to continue, a couple of weeks ago, Fr Euteneur issued a public statement regarding his 'disappearance' from the public eye.  In short, Fr Euteneur placed the blame squarely on himself, and came clean that he had been unfaithful to his vocation as a priest with regards to a woman he had met and worked with during his time with the pro-life group.  After admitting his sinfulness, he asked for forgiveness and in an ultimate act of humility obeyed his Bishop.  The media hardly reported anything, I believe it passed once on CNN's ticker,..at least that's all I saw.

God works in mysterious ways.  In many respects, this story parrallels Terry Shiavo and John Paul II.   Obviously not in gravity, but in teaching, how God uses a bad situation to draw a greater 'good' out of it.  In 2005, mankind sat idly by as we refused food to Terry Shiavo and killed her.  This was not an act of mercy but a complete disregard for human life.  The euthaniasia debate was reopened, and proponents of such nonsense treated human being in the same breath as dogs,..just put them to sleep.  About a week later, John Paul II, in his last teaching act as Pope,.taught the whole world how to die.  I can still remember him coming to the window a week before and attempting to speak before being wheeled away.  By today's vain standards, I guess we would openly question the Vatican's 'marketing' departement, as no one would ever want their fragility and weakness exposed to the world.  Getting back to the Fr Euteneur situation, his apology and subsequent act of humility was the complete opposite of last year's Fr Cutie, (who I've mentioned before...) deciding to take his 'ball and go home.'  Fr Euteneur, you are a man!  You are not alone,..I struggle with the very same sins and am not afraid to admit it.  I need help,.I am nothing without recourse to the mercy of God!  Guess what,.. St Augustine was the same!  You, I, we (as men..) are in good company!  A saint rises again after he has fallen,..a sinner stays down.  Fr Cutie,.I pray for you,..Fr Euteneur, rest assured you are in my prayers, but like Jesus, naked on the cross,.you took your medicine and faced the music!  Forgiveness is yours, because you have repented.  Fr Euteneur,..you taught us how to own up to our own failures,. TO BE A MAN!  To have a backbone!  A quality that is sorely lacking with the Church's collection of social justice priests and Mr Rogers clones pussyfooting their little crayon crap everywhere!  People,..our lives are a test, Heaven or Hell,..God loves us so much He gave us the choice.  That choice like any other begets consequences. 

Fr Euteneur,.we all make mistakes, that's what being human is all about.  Few of us have the balls to admit our failings.  God Bless and keep up the fight!

I've rambled enough....Peace.

St Maria Gorretti,..........Ora Pro Nobis.