Forgiveness vs. Reconciliation
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.—Jesus crucified in St. Luke 23:34. And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.—St. Stephen, Protomartyr in Acts 7:60. On Dr. Taylor Marshall's show, he and I discussed Narcissism in 2023. On that episode, we discussed the importance of saying "I'm sorry" and "I forgive you." After that show, I heard an excellent talk by an exorcist where he explained that small offenses should be forgiven without formal reconciliation. For medium offenses, the victim should still forgive the offender [...]
Diversionary Scapegoating in the Catholic Church
The top-left is the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex-offender who was the nexus point for many elite celebrities before his death. The top-right is Former-Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick, a convicted sex-offender who was also the nexus point for many elite bishops before he was laicized. There are many commonalities between the two criminals besides child-abuse. The crossover we are going to discuss today is something I label "Diversionary Scapegoating." Diversionary Scapegoating is when a delinquent group conveniently blames all of its crimes on one person (a criminal already busted) so as to divert the public's eyes from the criminal activity of that very same group. In regards to [...]
Would Kamala’s Persecution Have Benefited Christians?
Yesterday, on the 6th of November 2024 at 2:24 EST, Mr. Donald Trump was officially predicted to be the President of the United States for the third time (2016, 2020 and 2024.) The middle of those was obviously stolen. Yes, I am a 2020 "election-denier." But that is not the topic of today's article. The topic of today's article (only to be tackled in the second half of this article) is to evaluate the assertion that certain Catholics (from left to right on the spectrum of theology and politics) have made, namely, that it would have been better for Kamala to become President so we could have gotten "done and [...]
On The Indefectibility of the Catholic Church in this Crisis
Perhaps the only reason that a true Catholic with a good will and a functioning intellect would fear coming to the same conclusion on the papacy as Archbishop Viganó did would be the indefectibility of the Catholic Church. Fr. John Hardon SJ explains that indefectibility essentially promises that the Catholic Church "will always remain the institution of salvation, founded by Christ. This affirms that the Church is essentially unchangeable in her teaching, her constitution, and her liturgy. It does not exclude modifications that do not affect her substance, nor does it exclude the decay of individual local churches or even whole dioceses." But could that decay include the Pope? Of [...]
Catholic Numbers Tank Globally
Before Vatican II, numbers of Catholics across the globe were exploding. Consider just a few stats regarding American Catholics as listed in the Index of Leading Catholic Indicators: In 1930, the USA had 27,000 priests, but by 1965 that number nearly doubled, bringing the total number of American priests to 58,000. In 1930, the United States had 20,203,702 Catholics. By 1965, that number had sky-rocketed to 45,640,619. This means Catholics were not just reproducing, but making many converts. By 1965, American priests, nuns and lay people had built the world's largest conglomerate of hospitals, universities, high schools, grade schools and charitable organizations ever seen in the history of a young [...]
The Co-opting of Two Female Saints in “Dilexit.”
Jansenism was a heresy found over the past 400 years that put the emphasis on God's justice instead of God's mercy. Jansenism is a bit like a mix between Calvinism and Catholicism. Because of St. Margaret Mary and St. Therese's teaching of total trust in God, they are both often credited with putting the final nail in the coffin of Jansenism. Indeed, that heresy was particularly strong in France in the 18th and 19th centuries. Those two female saints are rightly credited for nearly ending Jansenism. However, modernism is the major heresy that threatens the Church today. For the past 50 years, modernists have often labeled traditional Catholics as "Jansenists." [...]
St. Teresa of Ávila on Edifying Speech
St. Teresa of Ávila (top left) had much to say on holy speech, but it was summarized by an anonymous Jesuit (a loyal son of St. Ignatius of Loyola, top right) in a book now called Practical Meditations. I know this is a short article for the second half of this week, but I found every sentence extremely convicting, so, I hope you do, too. He summarizes her as writing: Speak little, especially when you are with many people. Never praise yourself, your knowledge, your good actions, or your birth, unless you have reason to hope that it may be of use, and then do it humbly, remembering that these [...]
Dogma Evolves As Well As a Species
p/c Nordic Biosite Dr. David Hillel Gelernter Ph. D is a Jewish man who is professor of computer science at Yale University. At one point, he believed in Darwinian evolution. But in 2019 he wrote a groundbreaking article called Giving Up Darwin that reveals his reversal on this. It is probably my favorite proof against species-based evolution because it is neither biological nor theological, but rather mathematical. I encourage you to read the entire article, but one excellent paragraph reads thus: "Do the numbers balance out? Is Neo-Darwinian evolution plausible after all? Axe reasoned as follows. Consider the whole history of living things—the entire group of every living organism ever. [...]
Heresies Always Start Small
The Council of Nicea teaches that God the Son exists as one substance (homoousian) with God the Father, even though they are different persons of the Blessed Trinity. The word homoousian is Greek for consubstantial in Latin (which you say or sing every Sunday or Feast day at Holy Mass during the Creed.) To deny the persons of the Trinity being consubstantial is to deny both the Divinity of Christ and the Blessed Trinity. This fact of orthodox Catholicism seems obvious to most Catholics today who have taken even one week of Christology classes at a Catholic University or seminary. But in the fourth century, the heretic Arius denied this, [...]
Stop Compromising on These Two Commandments!
Featured image above shows two stained glass windows in the "Mary Keane Chapel" at the "La Salette Shrine" in Enfield, New Hampshire. There is a little-known but Vatican-approved apparition called Our Lady of La Salette. Catholic Straight Answers explains the basics: "On Saturday afternoon, September 19, 1846, two children– Maximin Guiraud (age 11) and Melanie Calvat (age 14)– were tending sheep for their employers near La Salette in the French Alps. The effects of the French Revolution which had terrorized the Church, the blood spilt during the reign of Napoleon, the increasing secularization of social thought, and the rising political turmoil enveloping Europe had taken a serious toll on the [...]