Totalitarianism Must Be Total
The above picture I snapped while traveling in New Orleans. I'm not sure why it was necessary to put that up since nearly no one in New Orleans dares to go into a restaurant without a mask. It's not like the above picture is actually stopping this imaginary 50% of the population of "right-wing science-deniers" who would "endanger the average population" in the overwhelming fear still set in motion on this coronavirus "pandemic" that has allegedly "overwhelmed the hospitals." Rather, the above sign of No Mask, No Service is simply a reminder that the shop-owners are in cahoots with the brainwashing team. The above picture I also took in New Orleans but it's obviously from a sidewalk. Is this to stop all the KKK still running around Louisiana? No, David Duke has not been in office in Louisiana since 1992. [...]
VLX 66: A Prophet’s Reward
Mt 10:40-42 https://youtu.be/dHRBc-s3c7s
TCE #17: Catholics and Weapons
We will consider weapons in Scripture and then weapons in the hands of Catholics if the 2nd amendment erodes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5Md51ev1aM
Do We Need Catholic Labels in the 21st Century?
I'm fully aware there were heated debates on matters of speculative theology between Franciscans and Dominicans in the Middle Ages on topics such as "Is the intellect or the will the is the primary faculty in the beatific vision? (I think the Franciscans said the will and the Dominicans said the intellect.) I'm also fully aware there were heated political factions in the 19th century between Catholics and that already there were debates in politics between "liberals" and "conservatives." But far and away, Catholics in the 13th century and Catholics in the 19th century (and every century in between) did not use nasty titles modern like "traditional Catholic" or "liberal Catholic" or "neo-con" Catholic. They were all just "Catholics." I hate those terms. Why, then, do I use terms like "traditional Catholic" or "liberal Catholic" or "neo-con" Catholic in my [...]
CPX 65: Confirmation
Catechism of Pope St. Pius X (CPX) p. 67-70. Q/A 1-19. The Sacrament of Confirmation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMLhBk0NULU&t=24s
God Wants To Save Us From Ourselves
A wise philosopher who taught me at Boston College was once asked at a public talk, "Why does man sin?" The philosopher thought about it and said, "I suppose that is the one thing that even God Himself does not know, as we see in what He says to do the damned, I do not know you. (cf Mt 25:12) Even if not dogmatically true, it's at least "poetically true" that perhaps even God Himself does not know why man sins. Indeed, if God made man for Himself, then to turn from Eternal Love Himself is so foolish as to be incomprehensible to, well, Eternal Truth Himself. We know that on the pathway to perdition, man gets caught into some weird combination of despair, presumption, and pride, but it is too great of a mystery to tackle here. The problem is we [...]
VLX 65: I Have Not Come to Bring Peace
Mt 10:34-39 https://youtu.be/G0OIGK7k5rg
Blasphemy Against Mother Mary in “The Chosen”
Section A: The Scene The Chosen is a streaming video series on the life of Our Lord Jesus Christ with record-breaking viewership. They did a decent job in Season 1, but a scene found in Season 2, Episode 3 has major blasphemy against the Mother of Jesus. In this scene, a female disciple of Jesus named Rama is sitting next to Mother Mary and expresses her concern about how to know and follow Jesus in a better way. (As St. Mary Magdalene is also in this scene, I will refer to the mother of Jesus below as "Mother Mary.") Rama says, “I feel like I need to not make anymore mistakes.” Mother Mary responds, “How do you think I felt?” Andrew says, “You probably feel that everyday. No?” “Not anymore,” Mother Mary says. “He always reassured me. God always made [...]
CPX 64: Your Sponsor in Baptism
Catechism of Pope St. Pius X (CPX) p. 66. Q/A 21-26. https://youtu.be/vICyzMt4iAk
Hermeneutic of Continuity or Hermeneutic of Rupture?
As a middle-of-the-road conservative in seminary, I would frequently say things like, "Vatican II did not change Catholic doctrine, but it did change how we package it for the post-modern mind." Or, perhaps I would say, "Dogma can't change but how we explain it can change." Phrases like this demonstrate the hermeneutic of continuity we clung to. We believed the Catholic Church before 1963 was the same as the Church after 1963. We just had to return to "the early Church" in order to "get back to the sources" if we wanted to square the circle, if we just lined up the stars correctly between the teachings of Pope St. Pius X and Pope Paul VI. But the more I read the Church Fathers, the more I saw nothing of modernist ideas like religious indifferentism (sometimes called "ecumenism") and other [...]