Liberty as a Cloak for Malice
For so is the will of God, that by doing well you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, and not as making liberty a cloak for malice, but as the servants of God.—1 Pt 2:15-16. Catholics have been sinning for 2,000 years. I'm under no illusions that major sin started in the lives of most Catholics only in the 1960s or 1970s. However, if someone went to confession 100 years ago or 700 years ago or 1500 years ago, the penitent would generally be hard pressed to find a priest (good or bad) who gave a "pass" to his serious sins. In other words, even [...]
“I Delivered My Child.”
by guest writer, Melody Lyons, found at The Essential Mother. Thirteen years ago I delivered our little Matthew Athanasius at home on the Feast of St. Maria Goretti. He was born too soon at 14 weeks in his intact amniotic sac. 2-3 inches of perfection. All his little fingers and toes visible. I knew he had died after symptoms declined and we confirmed via non-medical ultrasound. I’d never lost a baby before so I called L&D at a local Catholic hospital to find out what their protocol was. The nurse said… “Just come in and we will do a D&C.” I asked her what they do with the baby. She said: [...]
Is Reason Accessible Without Christ?
The easiest way to explain to a sensitive post-modern mind why not all "good people" go to heaven but only those in sanctifying grace probably comes from St. Thomas Aquinas. He simply explains that natural virtue from a person can not get him to the supernatural goal, namely, the Beatific Vision of the Blessed Trinity. Being a "nice person" can't get you to heaven since getting to heaven means truly being holy enough to gaze upon God. Think about that. St. Augustine realized there was no chance of salvation unless Christ be the center of one's life, probably because he saw the darkness he once walked in as a pagan. [...]
The Dark Night of the Soul: What It Is Not.
In seminary, my favorite professor taught both ascetical and Carmelite theology. I agree with him that St. John of the Cross was probably not a sullen melancholic. St. John is made out to be today as a debby-downer (especially by us perman-grin Americans) because he writes so much about detachment. But even a cursory study of the life of St. John of the Cross reveals his high levels of energy, not only towards the ascetical life, but even the evangelical life of helping the townsfolk outside his 16th century monastery in Spain. St. John of the Cross' pathway of the Nada, Nada, Nada is where we arrive at the apex [...]
How Conservative Family Lines Went Woke
Really, the full title of this blog should be How Conservative Family Lines Went Woke In Just a Few Generations. It didn't happen overnight. This is not a blog post to cheer on the right and condemn the leftists. It's to ask how our every country in the West went from being civilized to uncivilized in less than 100 years. You all know my theological answers on this, on how "politics is downstream of politics" and how "every grace and error flows from the altar." I also now admit that Vatican II was not the root of modernism, but was just the "coming out" party for modernism. But at the [...]
“Ecclesia Dei Adflicta” Turns 34 Years Old
June and July mark some bittersweet anniversaries in the traditional movement. It was on 30 June 1988 that Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and Bishop Antonio de Castro Mayer did episcopal consecrations without the approval of Rome. Pope John Paul II quickly wrote a document called Ecclesia Dei Adflicta, meaning "On the Afflicted Church of God." This is a barely-veiled reference to imply that Archbishop Lefebvre himself was "afflicting the Church of God" by consecrating bishops without the Pope's approval. Three weeks later, on 18 July 1988, the FSSP was founded with the approval of Rome to remain both canonically regular and maintain the old-rite sacraments. I believe one of the main [...]
The Last CPX (and my Upcoming RCT)
Yesterday, we released the very last CPX video, found on this YouTube playlist. CPX stands for Catechism of Pius X. It is my doctrinal and catechetical series of 15 minute videos numbered from 1 to 113. Each video contains about five minutes of my reading an old-school catechism and then about ten minutes of my commentary on it. Of course, my commentary is not as important as the words of a canonized Pope from 100 years ago. However, my application to a post-modern man who is battling the heresy of modernism is something the holy Pope never expected to be in the battle-array of a priest in the not-too-distant [...]
Advice to Young Courting Catholics, Part II
N.B This blog post is from a lay guest writer. NOTES FROM A BATTLEFIELD OBSERVER I write this from the perspective of a fifty-something Catholic father with three grown children. Watching my children become young adults has given me a ringside seat from which to view many of the follies and customs of today’s young people, around dating, courtship, and views on marriage. What follows is practical advice. It seems obvious to me that “love” is almost wholly misunderstood, and because it’s misunderstood, it’s highly overrated. That tingle you feel – it’s most likely just a touch of eros. This is not enough on which to base a permanent relationship. [...]
Pro-Life Martyr Jim Pouillon
Even the Wikipedia page for Jim Pouillon reads that "the murder of Jim Pouillon occurred on September 11, 2009... Pouillon was killed while protesting against abortion in front of Owosso High School in Owosso, Michigan." The man who killed Pouillon is named Harlan James Drake. That same day, he shot a businessman named Michael Fuoss at a different location. Fuoss was also killed. May God rest his soul. Because the two events were unrelated, and because the second shooting had nothing to do with the abortion debate, one might argue that Pouillon just happened to be at "the wrong place at the wrong time," namely, in front of an abortion center. Furthermore, I [...]
Why Murder of an Unborn Child May Be Worse than Murder of An Adult
Here's four ways abortion is possibly worse than the murder of an adult: 1. The level of innocence. I am not saying any babies are conceived without original sin. I'm simply saying they have no actual sin on their hands at the moment of their slaughter, unlike adult victims of homicide. 2. Abortion is a bloody sacrifice to demons as a mockery of the Mass. The Mass is an unbloody sacrifice to God. 3. Every abortion drags a dozen people to hell, regardless of where that baby goes (heaven, or much more likely—limbo.) 4. By the sheer number of these murders, chaos is introduced into a society and demons' power [...]