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.