"Tickled By Turpitude"

This could have been the title of an Associated Press article today that reported the legalization of homosexual "marriage" by the Spanish Congress of Deputies Be warned, before you click the link, that there is at least one picture that I consider to be offensive. Oh, but I'm just a silly puritan, right? There's no harm in a bunch of socialist apostates celebrating sodomy. Canada recently passed similar legistlation in one of it's bodies that is expecting to become law sometime before the end of the summer.

People will say I'm overreacting. They'll see my lack of euphamisms as bigotry and "hate language." But that's hogwash. I've seen a number of "God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" propaganda out there, and I realize that the cute way that the right has of speaking about these issues is no longer effective. You would think that referencing Genesis in this way would call people's minds back to the real issue. But we've become too lazy of mind, and the phrase is so commonplace, that we overlook it's implications. Adam and Eve, made in the image and likeness of God, were sent forth to procreate. Their relationship, their union in the flesh, the procreative end of this union: these reflect the very nature of the Godhead. Furthermore, Paul's letters contain rife metaphors for the Church and the mystical relationship of the Body of Christ founded upon this theology of Genesis. Through the Incarnation, Marriage became sanctified as a Sacrament of the New Testament. And given the Catholic theology of things like "common law" marriage and the like, we can surmise that sacrelige and grave mortal sin against this sacrament can occur even without the witness of a Church wedding. All unions and bonds between man and woman are sacred in their nature, and they are types of the sacrament of Marriage fully dispensed by the Church. Given all of this, I am downright exhasperated when I seem to be the only person who gets pissed off by a picture "simply of two men kissing." Nevermind the likeness it bears, so cleverly captured on film, to so many stereotypical photo-ops of newlyweds and honeymooners collected over the years.

It's time that humanity wakes up. Societal degredation and collapse follow patterns. Social psychology, not to mention a mystical understanding of the role of demons in human activity, can easily show that the type of decay which this new trend represents will spread. I'm not a conspiracy theorist or the next Joseph McCarthy. I just have common sense. Nations are changing the definition of the basic unit of society, the family. They're challenging a concept that goes back to before the foudnations of the world, before time, founded in the eternal relationship among the persons of the Trinity. Society is playing God, casting over Man a deep sleep of ignorance, extending its already besotted and soiled hand through the missing rib in Adam's chest, and ripping out from his very heart one of the definitive elements that makes him human. They'll replace the missing piece with some postmodern atheistic philosophical garbage, just like in the past; as they've exchanged tolerance for acceptance, justice for political correctness, plurality for pretense, dignity for ignominy. They'll bandage up the man-made-God-made-man when they've finished and let him hobble away, breathing laborously under the strain of his broken and battered figure. Then, society will sit back and enjoy their creation for the time being, contemplating how else they might "fix" man up when next they catch him sleeping. I've slumbered, too, and awoken deformed and damaged by the unhealing hands of false prophets. Wake up, world... and, if you are left with ears to hear, my advice merely echoes another ancient source of whom society has at least left traces in man's memory: Stay awake!

Late One Night...

So I would like to announce to everyone that this is my first blog. It's almost 2 a.m. on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and my mind remains restless. My mind is restless because I exist in a society where abortion is still a choice, but killing a pregnant women is double homicide, where women fight to be ordained because, "the times are different now", and homosexuality is the next civil rights movement. What it all boils down to is moral relevance. Relevance, what is relevance? My buddy Webster tells me the association deals with a relationship to a task or matter at hand. A relationship? A relationship doesn't deal with absolutes, it has no limitations and is not universal. If morality deals with the right and wrong, then what is right and wrong if all is relative? Well, good thing we have a God who loves us so much, because without Him, right and wrong wouldn't be defined, let alone even exist at all.

Let's take it a few steps back. So if everything in existence must first receive existence, and in order for that to happen something outside of this cycle must exist, we have briefly concluded that God IS existence. This explains why He refers to Himself as, "I AM", because "am" is a To Be verb: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, has have, had, do, did, does........Etc. All these words are states of existence, states of being in the simplest form. Therefore, now I am briefing this tremendously, since God created everything in existence it is impossible for us to exist without God. So the only way we can perceive the truth and understand true reality, is to include God. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, so in order for us to understand truth, we must understand Truth. Consequently, those who live a life excluding God live outside of the truth in a world outside of true reality. This frame of mind borders the essence of insanity. It is within this purpose that God throughout time has guided us, brought us His truth, even so much as to come down from Heaven and tell us directly.

With this knowledge we now share responsibility. The line between what is wrong and what is right has been drawn. It is the world's prince, Lucifer, who blurs this line continuously and blankets the consciousness with lies and shadows. Open your eyes! How crafty he must be, if successfully he made murder so passive. How cunning he must be to convince society that abortion isn't murder, no no no no, it's a choice. A choice ladies and gentlemen, when has a choice ever been a bad thing? Don't worry so much, the child won't feel it anyway, besides, it's YOUR body, shouldn't you have rights to your body? Well if it's only your body that is so important, why when a criminal kills a pregnant woman is it not only her body that is on trial? Why does the life of the baby suddenly become important? The answer resides in the ideal that evil is smarter than we, always has been and always will. The enemy is far more insidious then credited. He must only whisper a thought in our minds and laugh as we misguide each other from the Truth, from the narrow road set upon 2,000 years ago. But, I forgot, in today's society hypocrisy is logical and insanity is the norm.

I attended a beautiful mass the other week at a convent with nuns who so kindly opened their doors and hearts to my attendance that I may share in the celebration of our Lord's sacrifice and redemption of mankind. At brunch a nun shook her head to me at Cardinal Ratzinger's new position as our Holy Father. His election crushed her dreams of being ordained and receives her stamp of disapproval. This upset my morning's equilibrium. It shocked me, forcing me to realize my own naiveness. How an individual dedicates herself to a cause, mainly Jesus Christ in the Catholic Church, and who's lifestyle exists because of the holiness of the Church founded by Jesus Christ and the theology to stabilize it, yet on a matter of relevance opposes it astounds me. If Catholic, one believes that not only did Jesus Christ found the Church, but also entrusted the Church to the Apostles through guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave the Church the Holy Spirit, that He may forever guide the Church through time and triumph over darkness. By faith we are called to believe this, and it has been well represented through our Popes down the line to Peter. How then, someone who spiritually agrees and dedicates not only her spirit but also her life to this cause, contradict these beliefs? She is contradicting herself. I won't even say how it bothered me to consider the idea that any modern day woman would put herself before Mary, Our Blessed Lady, and believe that she would become ordained before Mary. "But the times are different now, for Mary to be ordained 2,000 years would be unacceptable to society." Oh REALLY?!? I didn't know Jesus conformed to society. I was under the impression that Jesus was seemingly one of the greatest radicals of all time, at least when He called Himself the Son of God.

I really shouldn't be mentioning these issues, as they are tired out conversation topics. I guess it leads me to clap my hands. Oh prince of darkness, I may not like you, but I recognize your power. You have achieved much in this world, and you are most certainly wise amongst men. Not a day goes by where I do not encounter a ripple caused by your hand. As the master of illusions, you seduce humanity with your smile and charm us with your words. But, like much else in this world, you are a false product, a hollow commercial for values that don't last and products that don't work. At least you know how to sell...

Pilgrimaging In Prose

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Paul Elie's The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage. The book has been remarkable so far in several respects. Elie's style was at first downright frustrating. He tells the stories of four American Catholic writers (Walker Percy, Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, and Flannery O'Connor) in a chronological socio-relational narrative. Dividing the book into chapters based on topics common to these authors and their experience of American Catholicism, he jumps randomly in each chapter from one to another, sometimes back and forth between a pair or three and bringing the fourth in from nowhere, so that there's no pattern or rhythm that would allow one to isolate an individual subject's "strain".

Once I got used to this style, however, the book became rather enjoyable. The subjects are all fascinating people, and Elie's insight is usually rather good, although sometimes he tends to draw conclusions that I would not. At my current place in the story, Merton is about to begin exploring Eastern wisdom, and Elie already seems to be letting him "off the hook" on alot of the shaky conclusions that this exploration brought about. Nonetheless, I recommend the book based on my reading thus far to anyone interest in American letters, or even the average Catholic reader who would like to gain an insight into some contemporary Catholic authors. I will post more on this as I come to the end of the book and can draw some better conclusions. As of now, it still retains the 4 of 5 stars that I rated it on my book list.

Happy Anniversary

Today is GK Chesterton and his wife's wedding anniversary. Dr. Thursday has a nice tribute to commemorate the occasion.

Housekeeping

I'm a nine-to-fiver this summer, so my productivity has been slumping and will probably continue to gradually decrease. However, I hope to blog at least once every two weeks, just to let everyone know I'm still alive.

I've added a friend of mine, Sean, to the Veritatis Visio "staff" of contributing authors, so maybe his output will keep things a little active here in the meantime. Joey E. and I welcome Sean aboard and wish him happy blogging.

Keep checking back for updates. I'm working my way through Paul Elie's book, and it's making quite an impression on me, about which I hope to blog in the near future. Until then, cheers.

Funny Protestant Joke

I came accross this joke at the Catholic Answers Forums and had to share. It gave me a chuckle. Please know that I love our Protestant brethren and pray for their acceptance of the True faith. But a good start would be accepting why this is funny.

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. I immediately ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!"


"Why shouldn't I?" he said.



I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"



"Like what?"



"Well ... are you religious or atheist?"



"Religious."



"Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish?"



"Christian."



"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"



"Protestant."



"Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?"



"Baptist."



"Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"



"Baptist Church of God."



"Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"



"Reformed Baptist Church of God."



"Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"



"Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"



To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.

Quote of the Year

Tom at The Donegal Express:

The sun never sets on the British Empire; God doesn’t trust those SOB’s in the dark.

Haha. I love it.

Bad Acting = Great Fun

My friend sent me this link which is definately good for a laugh if you've seen the new Star Wars movie. It's Darth Vadar playing Wheel of Fortune... I bet you can guess what the answer is to the the puzzle.

Movie Review

BATMAN BEGINS
I went to see Chris Nolan's version of the winged avenger last night and was blown away. The movie exceeded my expectations and it was just a genuinely good experience, which one does not often have nowadays in the theater. Without the heaviness and near oppresiveness of Star Wars, this movie retains a good, physchologically driven plot, kicking it into high gear with awesome effects and action sequences, but "keeps it real" in the literal sense.

Unlike the former film franchise based on the classic comics, this one takes out a lot of the glitz and glam and sticks to a more personal telling of story, motivated by true character development. The coolest thing is that it fits more into a Spy-Action genre than comic book fantasy. Mostly everything that in the other films is taken for granted is shown to be explicable by science - or science fiction. Yet the gadgets and gizmos are no less believable than any of James Bond's gear, and even the aquisition of Bruce's technological weaponry is explained in a cogent and workable way.

There's some strong imagery and frightening sequences which shocked some of the kids in the theater (some of whom even had to leave), but this should be a decent movie for anybody high school age or above. Best of all is that the story even deals with the idea of vigilante justice and makes a stand for compassion balanced retribution. Individual instances may deviate from what I would call a properly Christian view of justice, but, nonetheless, the film definately repudiates the idea of pure vengeance (c.f., for example, Batman Forever and Chris O'Donnel's obsession with Two-Face's death).

A final endorsement is the portrayal of Christian Bale, which must be compared to Michael Keaton. I think Bale does a fine job capturing the unique psychology of Bruce Wayne/Batman - perhaps not as fine as Keaton could have done, but certainly better than the fellow from E.R.

In short, go see this movie. You won't be disappointed.

UPDATE

Steve Greydanus thinks so too.

Path to Unity Will Be "Slow and Painful"

Bartholomew I, Echumenical Leader of the world's orthodox Orthodox, made comments welcoming the Pope's call to unity and calling the repair of the schism an "obligation to God."

SOURCE.

It's something definately worth praying for with great rigor, given the difficulty of the task, that this obligation be soon fulfilled. I do not think it unfeasible that it be achieved during the reign of Benedict XVI, certainly in my own lifetime. Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us!

Paving A Road for Research

There's an old saying about where the road leads that is paved with the best intentions. I love Nancy Reagan, and while I don't inflate the legacy of her late husband quite so much as the media does, I will admit that he was a very charismatic man and had a charm. Nevertheless, it is very troublesome to see how Nancy is fanning the fire under the stem cell debate with Ronald's coattails. Their charisma might be a very dangerous tool indeed for those who, with the President, reject embryonic stem cell research as unethical and immoral. I hope that people remember the old maxim well and discern between their personal affections for the old occupants of the White House and the more logical position of it's current residents.

And one more thing...

Before I go to bed, one last post for today: this from Andrew of the Holy Whapping. Yay for Italy!!! This is the role of the Church in the modern world. I am so glad the Italian Magisterium kicked butt on this issue. Hopefully some of our own stand up and take notice...

Funny Post / New Link Added

Tom at The Donegal Express has a witty and well-done post about singing in Church. I liked it so much, it's earned the blog a place on my blogroll.

Not that anyone cares...

Nick Cannon's Can I Live? Video

I don't know much about Nick Cannon, or rap music in general, so don't take this as a wholesale endorsement. I don't know how the rest of his views align with me own, nor can I say honestly whether this is, in the way of rap music, good or bad. I guess it sort of sounds good, if you go in for that sort of thing. Anyway, check out his new video, which is well done, regardless, and has a beautiful pro-life message.

For an alternate source, click here.

Kansas Abortion Mill a Veritable Temple to Moloch

An Associated Press article on Saturday reported that the license of a Kansas City, Kansas abortionist, Dr. Krishna Rajanna, was being revoked due to the deplorable conditions found in his "treatment" facility. However, the article only reports minor horrors, such as a dead mouse being found in the hallway and syringes full of medicine being stored in an unlocked refrigerator. This article, on the other hand, from World Net Daily, reports that the Doctor actually kept aborted fetuses in the refrigerator in styrofome cups, and says that one worker in the mill in the mill testified to having seen "Rajanna 'microwave one of the aborted fetuses and stir it into his lunch'."

Now, I'm not going to set up a straw man or something and say that these atrocities could only occur in an abortion mill and not in any type of medical facility. However, when I came accross this story at work, I noticed something odd about my coworkers' reactions. All of them (some of whom are pro-abortion) seemed to indicate in one way or another that they were less surprised to find this type of report of this particular sort of facility. One co-worker in particular, who just the other day was raving like a lunatic at how horrifies he was at reading a story of a necophiliac undertaker, reacted somewhat casually to the reports, with a simple shake of his head. Having spoken at some length of how one would think you could trust an undertaker and how sadistic that man must have been for his actions, he made no such observations in this case. Odd, isn't it...?

Book quiz

Got dinged. So here it goes:

++Total Number of Books I Own/ Have Owned: The "have owned" is what makes it tough. I know I've given away more books than I have in my possession currently. All told, I'd imagine it's between 700 and 800.

++Last Book I Bought: "Salt of the Earth" by Seewald/Ratzinger

++Books I'm Reading Now: See my reading list.

++Five Books That Have Meant A Lot to Me:
1) The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton - I read this book when I was deployed overseas with the Air National Guard for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and discerning a vocation to the priesthood. Living in the middle of the desert, reading about Merton's spiritual journey, so riddled with "spiritual" desert areas, I was very deeply touched and it gave me the final catalyst that brought me to the seminary.
2) The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis - Lewis brought me to the Inklings, especially Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings. This was the first of Lewis' writings that I ever read. I never even found the Chronicles of Narnia until later in high school.
3) What Jesus Saw From The Cross by A.G. Sertillanges - this book is a beautiful and devotional work that also serves as a good biblical/historical primer and a Holy Land travelogue. I bought it at my first Steubenville Youth Conference and it helped me get through the period of desolation that followed that spiritual high.
4) The Brother's Karamazov by Dostoyevsky - I relate in varying ways to each of the brothers in this book, even the bastard Smerdyakov. I love Russian literature ever since I picked up Crime and Punishment my sophomore year of high school. Upon reading this, though, I was floored.
5) Dubliners by James Joyce. There are tons more religious books that have influenced my life in profound ways. Yet my love of reading and writing has been no more influenced than by this stylistic genius. Joyce's writing cuts right to my heart. His symbolism, the power and adeptness with which he constructs so many perfect gems of writing is, in my opinion, unmatched in the world of great books. I don't always agree with his message, but he intrigues me greatly and makes me want to write. He shows me the power of the written word, and I've learned much about my own style and voice from him.

There you have it. Now, I'm supposed to tag five more people. I don't know too many people in the blogosphere yet. I don't seem to have many regular readers. So... I'm going to be polite, and simply pick on my friend Dave.

Enjoy!

Check it out...

Andrew of the Holy Whapping requested a link to this post, so here it is. It's a cause close to my heart, so check it out.

Chimps turned Pimps?

Apparently, an economic experiment performed on monkeys to see if they could grasp rudimentary principles of money-exchance has resulted in... well, prostitution. Jimmy Akin has a parsing here, or you can read the original story if you want to sign up for a membership with the NY Times online. Apart from the sex-trade, the experiment had other uncanny results that are interesting, to say the least.

New blog link

The blog isn't all that new - it's been around about a month. However, as I become ever more the Chestertonian, I have a craving for more about him and like him. Hence, my new link to GKC's Favourite.

Treasure Hunt

I got tagged for this here... so here it is:

1) An ordinary object

a) Name of Blog: JimmyAkin.Org
b) Link to Post: Enter The Spongers
c) Name the Object: "sponge"


2)An Animal

a) Name of Blog: For Lack Of A Better Term
b) Link to Post: New Pope Doll
c) Name the Animal:"bear"

3)Food

a) Name of Blog: Shrine of the Holy Whapping
b) Link to Post: Yep...Eggs Benedict
c) Name the Food: Eggs Benedict


4)Poetry or Art

a) Name of Blog: The Angry Twins
b) Link to Post: Dance of the Seven Veils
c) Name the Art: Dance of the Seven Veils

5) A measurment (weight, height, size)

a) Name of Blog: Summa Mommas
b) Link to Post: They Are Here! They Are Here!
c) Name the Measurement: 5 lbs. 11 oz.; 5 lbs. 8 oz.

Thanks to Mary.

Fun with Google

After following the advice that I found here,
I achieved the following humorous result:

And the virgin shall conceive and bear a... daughter?

From the Douay-Rheims translation of the Bible.

And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name JESUS. For he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Matthew 1:21 - 23

C.F. the LBI Institute translation (corrected for gender):

"And she shall bring forth a daughter: and thou shalt call her name JUDITH. But her friends will call her Judy for short. Friends like Petrina, Jamie, and Joan. And the DiVinci Code will never seem so easy to debunk as when people accept this lunacy, unless it's rewritten with a notion of adoption." And all this was done despite what the propher had said; because everyone knows, of course, that Isaiah drank alot, and didn't know very good Hebrew, anyway. Besides, that's in the Old Testament, which was very oppressive to women and thus lacks credibility.

Still not tempted to buy the latter version? Well, everyone knows that a good bible translation can gain great selling power based on the quality of its included commentary, so lets take a look at one of those:

From the introduction to the Letter of Pauline to the Rowomans:

In this letter, Pauline deals with several important theological issues, including equality in the early chapters, and a great bit about accepting different views and beliefs towards the end. Of course, there's a tricky bit in the middle about justification. There's also something about the unity of the body, that, for lack of mention of any parts of the female anatomy in most translations, might be seen as rather misogynistic; however, this translation has omitted the justification chapters and expanded those on the body to correct the gender-exclusive problems. Such redactions and editing need not be defended here, as that has been done in the general introduction to the New Testament, where the deletion of the entire Old Testament was likewise explained. Suffice to say that most things in Scripture are open to very loose interpretation so long as you adopt a pragmatic theory of truth and find the given intepretation useful for the promotion of your personal agenda. We can also repeat here that it is perfectly rational to be upset when other people do not accept your particular interpretation of the truth and that you may be totally justified morally in attacking that person with vituperations and, if necessary, physical abuse. As the letter to the Rowomans will show, it is important to accept the beliefs of others and to give total equality to all sorts of various and opposing positions on the same issue, excepting of course the Catholic position. And such flexibility should not be seen as an undermining of credibility when desperately clinging with fundamental fervor to select phrases taken out of context such as "love thy neighbor" and "do not judge lest ye be judged" in order to excuse your otherwise relativistic views.

Still not sold? Well, for once the mainstream view and the truth coincide, because apparently neither are most people, if the Amazon.com readers reviews are any indication. As for the people at the LBI Institute, they're probably waking up to their mistake given all the negative press and angry mail storming their mailboxes. I'm sure they're praying to the Holy Spirit and asking Her to help them out of this public relations mess. I wonder what kind of answer they'll get... seems bankrupcy is both just and effective.

... Et veritas liberabit vos.

Be ye subject therefore to every human creature for God's sake: whether it be to the king as excelling; Or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of the good: 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. Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

1 Peter 2:13-17

Free to be servants of God.

I became rather frustrated today when, in browsing the internet news sources, I came across this AP story about Texas Governor Rick Perry signing some pro-life and pro-family legislation at a parochial school, an action that provoked much protest. Particularly irksome was this picture of a woman whose sign claims that "Jesus was a liberal." This claim is not quite accurate, and thus an ineffective protest. My goal in this post is to demonstrate this point. I will not swim into the deep waters of whether Gov. Perry's actions represent an affront to the common understanding of the separation of Church and State. Rather, I will try to show that many people have a misperception about what it means to be 'liberal'; namely, that in order to be such one must be 'a Liberal.'

In a homily given on the occasion of his visit to the United Nations and the U.S. in 1995, at Camden Yards, Pope John Paul II said:

"Democracy cannot be sustained without a shared commitment to certain moral truths about the human person and human community... Surely it is important for America that the moral truths which make freedom possible should be passed on to each new generation. Every generation of Americans needs to know that freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought." (emphasis added)

Freedom, then, implies being inextricably bound by and dedicated to the preservation of certain values and principles. These allow one to freely think and operate within a type of framework, so that the individual may thrive without hindrance to the common good. In short, it's a macrocosm of the adage that tells us "high fences make good neighbors."

It is easy to understand that unrestrained personal freedom for every individual, in a world marred by sin, would bring about disorder and chaos - that, in order for a society to operate and flourish, it must have boundaries and rules. Without such regulatory devices, there could be no "liberty." The role of governing bodies is to establish which set of regulations best promotes the good of society and the protection and freedom of its members. But in doing so, politicians are simply seeking existant truths in order to codify them and conform their system of government to these truths. An example would be the testament to a person's "inalienable" rights given by our constitution. These truths, which established the border of the territory in which we are free to be "liberal", are revealed either naturally or supernaturally, and cannot be confounded or contradicted by the laws that men design. Instead, all men's laws must have these truths as their basis.

Jesus is not a Liberal, as the woman in the picture claims. For that matter, He's not a Conservative. Christ came to give men freedom from sin - freedom to choose the true and the good - freedom to be bound in service to God. This freedom enables men to serve and honor the State, to work toward peace and the common good. Christ modeled this type of freedom for us. If He was liberal, He was liberal in a unique sense of the word: the sense described above: that sense evident in a man who serves His servants, obeys the Law in the fullest sense, allows Himself to be bound and put to death for having commited no crime. It is not liberal in the sense of modern political views, where there is what our new Pope calls a "dictatorship of relativism" and tyranny of individualism descending on the western world.

"And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Christ has blessed us with the freedom to seek Him in every action of our lives, even in our political activities and involvement in public life. It would be hasty for anyone to assign to any political party, or group, a monopoly on Christ's truth. If the reason for the woman in the picture waving that sign is that she thinks women have a right to put to death a child inside the womb, she is gravely mistaken, and has missed a chance to be truly liberal and free. Elsewhere in his homily, Pope John Paul II, speaking to his Bishops, gave the following charge: "We must guard the deposit of divine truth handed down to us in the Church, especially in view of the challenges posed by a materialistic culture and by a permissive mentality that reduces freedom to license." A glance at the bothersome picture of the woman sadly proclaiming a false conception of liberty should bring these words home to us, today. Our law greatly liberates us, but binds us with a responsibility to protect freedom as well. We do not have the luxury of not concerning ourselves with politics or public affairs. We must immerse ourselves in these matters, giving them deep and thoughtful consideration, heavily weighing any decisions in which we might be asked to take part. We must not settle back too comfortably into the title of Conservative or Liberal, but engage each situation as new opportunity to encounter and find Christ's truth. Our discovery may in each scenario coincide with either a Liberal's or a Convervative's established view. Perhaps it will coincide with no known position in the political arena. But we will have exercised our true freedom and come closer to the Truth from whence it comes.

Sr. Joan Chittister: name even sounds bad

New to the blogroll: Dyspeptic Mutterings.

Particularly worth a read is this recent assault on an article by our favorite Benedictine Sith Lord, er, Sister.

Warning: N.C.R. - this is the one on the Dark Side.

Woof

I came by a link for a new club at a blog named "For Lack of a Better Term" and found it to be right up my alley. Check it out.



Also added a link to the Catholic Ragemonkey blog, a blog by three priests that tends to be pretty funny. Check out their CafePress store, especially this rockin' T-shirt design.

Things that scare me...

Two pictures I saw while surfing the web today scared the heck out of me.

Click here for the first one.

And if that's not enough... click here.

NB: In that second picture, that's not Jesus, so don't sweat too much. It's an Episcopal liturgy. However, we Catholics do see a sad frequency in this type of nonsense.