Padre Peregrino – Page 59 – Theology from a wandering priest

23 05, 2020

Can Adult Baptisms Be Canonically Suspended during COVID-19?
Can Adult Baptisms Be Canonically Suspended during COVID-19?

Can Adult Baptisms Be Canonically Suspended during COVID-19?

By Father David Nix|2020-05-23T21:29:34+00:00May 23rd, 2020|Theology|

This was an email I received from out of country. He gave me permission to reproduce it below under condition of anonymity. I changed his name and retracted the country of origin: Dear Father Nix, Here in COUNTRY-X, the government have banned all baptisms, and, by extension, all receptions into the Church. The bishops'conference have followed suit issuing their own edicts to this effect. There is, at the time of writing, no end date in sight for these measures, or even a vague time frame. Two catechumens, one whom was being prepared for unconditional Baptism, and the other who was being prepared to be received (with conditional Baptism), have asked [...]

16 05, 2020

Chernobyl and Coronavirus
Chernobyl and Coronavirus

Chernobyl and Coronavirus

By Father David Nix|2020-05-16T16:09:23+00:00May 16th, 2020|Theology|

34 years ago last month, the former states of the USSR remembered the anniversary of the most destructive nuclear meltdown in world history: Chernobyl. Although the HBO series takes Chernobyl takes some historical-fiction liberties with what happened under the Russian government in the 1980s, there's some similarities to what we are currently facing in the USA: Both governments manipulated statistics of a health crisis so as to maintain authoritarian control over their people. The difference is that the Russian government downplayed Chernobyl so as to manipulate the people into submission, where the US government is currently overplaying a real flu so as to manipulate the American people into submission. But [...]

12 05, 2020

The Nanny-State Wants to Babysit Your Family
The Nanny-State Wants to Babysit Your Family

The Nanny-State Wants to Babysit Your Family

By Father David Nix|2020-05-12T16:49:57+00:00May 12th, 2020|Theology|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPrbGU0Wyh4 Last week, on 28 April 2020, Tucker Carlson had a 15 minute segment on Fox News (above) called “Big Tech Censors Dissent Over Coronavirus Lockdowns." At minute 5, Tucker talks about how Dr. Erickson MD (the doctor who countered corona-hype with data that was unwelcome) was removed from numerous internet platforms. The CEO of YouTube, Susan Wojcicki, justified such removals on a CNN clip that Fox News borrowed. She said anything “medically unsubstantiated..anything that would go against World Health Organization” would be removed from YouTube. Tucker continues his critique: “Big Technology companies are using this tragedy [of COVID-19] to increase their power over the American population. They’re working in concert [...]

9 05, 2020

The Designation “Essential” Goes Against Catholic Social Teaching
The Designation “Essential” Goes Against Catholic Social Teaching

The Designation “Essential” Goes Against Catholic Social Teaching

By Father David Nix|2020-05-12T02:18:15+00:00May 9th, 2020|Theology|

I took the above picture today at a parking lot near Denver International Airport. I'm sure they're a fine company, and this is not a blog post against them. But as I left the lot, it hit me that what most US governors now consider "essential" is really just a categorization that is at best arbitrary and at worst discriminatory against the small business owner. My words above do not reveal a very brilliant epiphany, to be sure. Every one of us have noted the long lines to get into Home Depot or Wal-Mart (big business) while a Dallas hair stylist (small business) gets thrown in jail for trying to stay [...]

4 05, 2020

3 Ways Out of Coronavirus
3 Ways Out of Coronavirus

3 Ways Out of Coronavirus

By Father David Nix|2020-05-08T17:12:41+00:00May 4th, 2020|Theology|

https://youtu.be/Lze-rMYLf2E In this 15-minute video (24 Apr 2020) Bill Maher interviews Dr. David Katz, a physician helping in an Emergency Department in the Bronx that is treating COVID-19 patients. Dr. Katz went to the Einstein college of medicine and got his degree from the Yale school of Public Health. He is also the founding director of Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center and recently wrote in the New York Times about COVID-19. In the above video, both of these men mock Trump and Fox News, and yet they propose a moderate solution for our country to come out of lockdown now. I quote two liberals proposing an end to the lockdown not because [...]

30 04, 2020

Catholics Facing a Police-State
Catholics Facing a Police-State

Catholics Facing a Police-State

By Father David Nix|2020-04-30T16:37:24+00:00April 30th, 2020|Theology|

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJgRk1p8ktY In the above 10 minute Fox News segment from this week (April 2020) Tucker Carlson says: "People in power abuse their power. That may be the lesson here. The arrival of a terrifying new virus from China gave our leaders more power than anyone has had in the history of this country. Six weeks ago, America was something resembling an imperfect democracy...But suddenly everything has changed. Now, this is an oligarchy managed by bureaucrats and tech-moguls, none of whom are accountable to voters. Our leaders are making decisions that will affect your family forever with no oversight or accountability. And of course they love it. We shouldn't be surprised [...]

22 04, 2020

Christ Has Conquered Your Fear of Death
Christ Has Conquered Your Fear of Death

Christ Has Conquered Your Fear of Death

By Father David Nix|2020-04-22T16:35:37+00:00April 22nd, 2020|Theology|

VOA news recently reported on the coronavirus: "The most contentious debate over Orthodox Easter occurred in Georgia [former USSR] where church leaders and the government agreed to allow parishioners to attend dusk-to-dawn Easter vigil services. The agreement meant worshippers were allowed to attend overnight services in large cathedrals despite a curfew, but they were required to maintain a distance of 2 meters. Those who attend small churches had to remain outside. Dozens went to the main cathedral in Tbilisi, where Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II said that the virus had caused fear among many people.” Despite a global fear of death over a virus, these Georgian worshippers stayed up all night worshipping the [...]

12 04, 2020

Resurrection and the Problem of Pain
Resurrection and the Problem of Pain

Resurrection and the Problem of Pain

By Father David Nix|2020-04-13T17:52:24+00:00April 12th, 2020|Theology|

I have thought a lot about "The Problem of Pain" this Lent. The Problem of Pain is the modern atheist's main objection to believing in God: How could an infinitely good God who is infinitely powerful allow so much evil on earth? Indeed, there have been many books written to defend the existence of God and the goodness of God. But the one line that kept returning to me this Lent was: "Why must we suffer? Because here below, pure love cannot exist without suffering."—St. Bernadette. This sounds like an oversimplification of an answer to the Problem of Pain, but it is the most perfect explanation I have ever read [...]

4 04, 2020

In Mary is the Way and the Truth and the Life?
In Mary is the Way and the Truth and the Life?

In Mary is the Way and the Truth and the Life?

By Father David Nix|2020-04-04T14:03:18+00:00April 4th, 2020|Theology|

Many good Catholics are often hesitant to share with Protestants the Marian writings of heavily-Marian saints like St. Louis De Montfort and St. Maximilian Kolbe. I would number myself among such Catholics, at least at initial conversations with Baptists, Pentecostals and "non-dommers." Our Catholic giants of Marian theology write so much of "surrendering our life to Our Lady" that such vocabulary could be confusing to someone who has already surrendered his or her life to Jesus Christ (as well as Protestants and Catholics alike both should have.) Even the old Divine Office seems to ascribe too much to Mary, the Mother of God. In the set of Psalms called None [...]

29 03, 2020

Shipwreck of this World
Shipwreck of this World

Shipwreck of this World

By Father David Nix|2020-03-29T18:28:12+00:00March 29th, 2020|Theology|

Lauds in the old Divine Office of today, the first Sunday in Passiontide, says we life in a "shipwreck of a world" (mundo náufrago) here on earth. This seems like a very negative world view to the modern Christian who is repeatedly taught that God wants him happy on earth. There is some truth to that (that God wants us happy on earth) but the old Irish-Catholic worldview was that our pilgrimage on earth was actually escape from a wretched "shipwreck" to just get to heaven. People nowadays liken this worldview to Jansenism. But I'm going to propose in this blog post that putting the emphasis on original sin in [...]