Heretical Priest

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=6431105

The above is a link to a scandal in my diocese.

I will say what I suspect my bishop will either fail to say or take sweet time to.

This priest is wrong. Absolutely, positively, heretically wrong. He has gone against his bishop, he has gone against Holy Mother Church. He is leading his flock quite well - upon the skulls of past heretics into the stinking bowels of hell.

Homosexual acts are a mortal sin. Marriage is a Sacrament. It was instituted by Christ Himself as a means of grace for human beings. This is a fact my fifth grade CCD students could tell this "man" of God. Perhaps Father would like to sit in on classes? He seems to have forgotten some things while forming his conscience against the world's rule. Why Father would believe that tying together a Sacrament and Mortal Sin is a good idea is beyond my understanding.

Let us pray for this priest, and for the bishop. Christos Eleison.

Have A Blessed Michaelmas!

Michaelmas is now celebrated as the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, September 29th. Traditionally it is a day of eating goose and blackberries.

The goose comes from old laws. Michaelmas was a 'quarter day' in England and other lands of the UK. Peasants would have to pay up their debts and rents. Often this was done with a goose. If you'd like to say the great wings of the goose remind us of the wings of St. Michael, however, I'm not going to stop you.

The blackberries comes from an Irish legend, where it was told that Lucifer, when expelled from Heaven and sent down to Earth, landed in a blackberry patch. Anyone who has seen such a patch knows of their thorns, so Lucifer cursed the blackberry patches of the world, and returns to do so every Michaelmas. It is unwise, therefor, to eat blackberries after today.

I've also heard of a custom that may be more contemporary, but seems Catholic in its heart, of lighting a tall white candle, and a tall red candle as centerpieces for the Michaelmas feast. At the start of dinner the red candle is blown out, to show St. Michael's victory over Satan. A black candle would work just as well, in my opinion.

So Monday night I'll be having roast goose with baked apples and a blackberry crumble for dessert with my friends and family. I hope you have a Blessed Michaelmas!

P.S. I had to post this tonight, because tomorrow is my sister's wedding, and I imagined I would be quite busy. Pray for her and her new husband!

Viva, il Papa!

It has arrived. That point where I no longer remember what it was like not to have an earthly head of my church. When getting into arguments with protestants I forget that they may not have such an authority and it seems ridiculous to me. I find myself wishing they'd hurry up and form a catechism, or just tell me who their 'Pope' is so that I can read his writings and debate them from it.

You know you're Catholic when you're frustrated at protestants' lack of organization.

So I'd like to take a moment just to be thankful for Our Lord's gift of the papacy, and His son, Pope Benedict XVI, who is solidly guiding the Ship back into familiar, dare I say, traditional, waters. May the rest of the Church follow his lead and pay heed to his authority (I'm looking at you, French Bishops).

Say a Hail Mary for our Holy Father today, and be thankful that we have him, and are not lost in the stormy waters of protesant teachings.

Joyfully Catholic

On Fisheaters we were talking about what it means to be "Joyfully Catholic". Some seemed to be worried that they were too somber, and not showing their fellow man the happiness and joy of being a memeber of Christ's Church.

A valid point. With our bloody crucifixes, our quiet rosaries, our smokey incense and solemn saints it may appear that Catholics are not a very lively bunch. This ignores, however, the joy of the Domestic Church, and disregards silent joy.

Much of the joy felt by Catholics cannot be seen externally. Trust us, the Elevation of the Host during Mass can fill us with exstatic happiness. Completeing a pilgramige promised to Our Lady makes us burst. You won't see this though. In Catholic Culture it isn't right to be happy-go-lucky about such things. That's not to say you can't talk about them with others who will appreciate it, but we've gotten so used to having eyes rolled at us when we mention it that we've sort of given up.

Within the Domestic Church is where you'll really see us shine. We have no qualms about celebrating Christmas for 12 days with some seriously good food, games, and traditions. Easter goes on for eight WEEKS and you can sense that exuberence the entire time. We'll put a crown on a child to celebrate their Saint Day, sneak chocolate coins into shoes on St. Nicholas Day. March enthusiastically in a Spirit of Chartres walk or sing "Ave Maria" around the house for October.

We'll light candles, counting down the Sundays to Christmas in Advent. We leave flowers for saints, our brothers and sisters. We crown our King and Queen of Heaven with prayers and gestures. We have more feast days then can be fully celebrated in a year.

We compose Litanies, Novenas, Hymns and prayers. We get together and give gifts on Baptisms, Confirmations, First Communions, Marriages and Ordinations. We carry each other's joys by joining in thanks for prayers answered. We feel our brothers and sister's support as we're going through a tough time, and that too can bring us joy.

To be Catholic is almost intrinsically joyful. How can we not be a celebratory people when we have Christ among us, and Holy Mother Church guiding us?

Devotions

I'm lying in bed, about to watch a movie as I type this on my laptop. Above me is an olive wood crucifix with a silver corpus. It hangs above my bed every night, I've even packed it along with me on trips and hung it above wherever I'm sleeping that night. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to do this often without putting further holes in a wall.

Anyway, the point is not that I hate sleeping in protestant surroundings. The point is the incarnation, and not just that the crucifix represents this, but that all our devotions, our sacramentals, represent this.

It is Catholic teaching that when He became human, took on a phyiscal form, Our Lord sanctified the physical world. This is part of why our Sacraments all have a necessary physical component. Our Lord is the true leader and king of this world. Satan is but the prince of air. The trees, dirt, roads, buildings, and even laptops with which we blog all belong rightfully to Him.

When I say this to protestants they tend to agree. They fail to make an innocent step in logic, however, and see that it stands to reason that we can then use physical items in our devotions and prayers. I don't understand why. Maybe once I knew, but if so I've forgotten it.

My crucifix reminds me, very forcefully as a matter of fact, that Christ watches over me (especially at that most unholy of hours 3:00AM, the hour opposite the moment Our Lord died and acted as the sacrifice for us all). I feel safer when it is there. Should I? Maybe, maybe not, but the fact remains that I do. Do I think that without that crucifix that Christ could not watch over and protect me? Of course not. The crucifix is for ME, Christ doesn't need it.

But Christ does understand that. As He has been human, He knows our weaknesses and desire for tangible things. He is a loving king, and so provides us with them. Let us not forget God's instructions to build the ark of the covenant (and cover it with images of seraphim) or the copper snake (which He allowed to be the instrument of His grace in healing His children).

So as I drift off, listening to my movie, I'll see reflected in the finger-print covered screen of my laptop a silver corpus, looking down on me, and I'll remember that in Heaven there is a true God, looking down in the same way.

What is Worship?

I was at my niece's Baptism this Sunday. She was being Baptized Lutheran. I was asked to be Godfather.

Now just a brief interlude about this. I tried to find some info from sources I usually trust about whether or not I could be her Godfather and finally, after some research, discovered that I could for a few reasons. First of all my sister and brother-in-law are not very devout Lutherans. In fact, they're only Christian in the general sense. I talked with them and they knew that I would be taking that role seriously, and would not hold back in teaching the Catholic Faith. In as far as I am able my Goddaughter will be raised Catholic (I bought her a rosary already, and some Holy Cards and books on the Saints). Second, the Baptism was valid. Third, I didn't have to agree to anything in the ceremony that would be against Catholic teaching. Maybe someone could now prove that I was wrong somewhere, but it is done (Her Godmother is actually Catholic too, and also got my niece a rosary. We're talking about ways to enroll her in CCD already)

So anyway, I was sitting in the Lutheran building and they started their service. One of the men in their music team said something that struck me as very odd:

"Come, let us gather together in worship-"

It was with a shock and start that I realized and remembered; Protestants think that music and singing is worship. That offering yourself is worship.

Now in a sense they're sort of close with the second one, but the first is way off. Worship requires a sacrifice. God was very clear about this in the Old Testament, and the God of the Old is the same as the God of the New. Jewish worship required a lamb or other sacrificial offering.

This is why at every Catholic Mass there is Holy Communion. During the Consecration the boundries of time are stripped away and once again, made present is the Sacrifice at Calvary. Our Lord is re-presented on our altars, and all of Heaven opens up and worships with us.

For there is only ONE Sacrifice now, only ONE that is befitting Our God, and it is Christ Our Lord. There is a sacrifice at every Catholic Mass, and it is the same sacrifice each time.

There must be a sacrifice, and there is only one way to give Our God the sacrifice He desires and deserves. There is no other thing that can be offered to fully pay for our sins.

Deo Gratias.

In nomine Patri...

When I was a protestant I used to make the sign of the cross. It was my 'ward against evil'. Whenever I heard something that I hoped would never happen to me, I made the sign. Sort of silly.

But also sort of truthful. The Sign of the Cross could be used as a ward against evil. It has started the prayers of the Catholic faithful for several hundred years, so Satan has got to be aggrevated by it (to say the least).

I try and remind my CCD kids to never make The Sign in a hurry. Do not flap your hands towards you face, stomach, and general shoulders area. It makes you look like you're brushing away a fly. Consider your movements and words.

Touch the head; your mind, your brain. This is our tool of meditation and contemplation. Our focuser. Love the Lord your God with all your mind. May the gospel always be in our minds.

Touch your heart; your soul and center. Love for Christ and His children should pour out of us at all times. This moment of the prayer (for the Sign of the Cross is first and foremost always a prayer) is a request. We ask for an increase in love. Faith, Hope, and Love remain but the greatest of these is Love.

Touch your shoulders; where the brunt of your work falls. We are all called to carry our Cross. To shoulder the burdens of life, not only so that we can reach tomorrow, but so that we may offer them up with a joyful heart to Our Lord Christ in Heaven, for the salvation of souls.

By making the sign in front of us we place Christ ahead of us on our paths, asking Him to go before us and guide us.

The whole prayer is a miniature catechism, incorporating belief in the Holy Trinity, in the dignity of mankind, the necessity of brotherly love and care, and the willingness to do our part and work out our salvation in fear and trembling. Yet this action, being as it is one of the first things a Catholic learns, genereally, so often becomes a quick habit that it is never seriously considered and meditated upon.

I was once told that the Sign of the Cross should be like breathing. You just do it, and you just know when you ought to do it. It flows from a Catholic, as easy as holding a pencil. If this is not done in an absentminded way, why, devotion to the Sign of the Cross may procure a soul enough grace to die in a state fit for Heaven.

Is Mass, Mass?

I hear from a lot of people that "It's still the Mass" and "It's still the Eucharist". Guitars strumming to "Gather us in"? Well, "it's still the Mass". People touching Holy Communion with their own hands? "Well, it's still the Mass". Drums? "Still the Mass!" Fifteen (always female) EMoHC, horrible, abstract vestments devoid of any true Catholic symbolism, no incense, vapid hymns, and a priest who strolls into the congregation for the Sign of Peace? Well you know what, that's ok, because "It's still the Mass".

We need to remember something. It is NEVER just "Mass". It is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and a lot more emphasis needs to be put on that 'Holy' and 'Sacrifice'. We have become complacent and lazy in accepting the liturgical abuses that plague, and in some cases have become status quo, in the Novus Ordo.

How dare we say "It's still the Mass". "Is it worthy of Christ?" should be the perpetual question on our lips! Is what we are doing timeless and acceptable, are we striving to present Our Lord and His angels with a liturgy they would recognize behind the gates of Heaven? Are we attempting to convey to the congregation, not that we can be as entertaining as First Tabernacle True Baptist Church of the Living Water (Reformed) down the street, but that we are members of the Church that spans decades and will stretch into the future till Christ returns to reign as King?

No. Holy Mass is not "still the Mass". It needs to be more. We shouldn't accept "still the Mass". We should see that as an embarrassment. We should never have to utter those words because every Mass offered to God on the face of this planet ought to reflect the Glory and Eternity that is taking place in Heaven at every moment of every day.

"Still the Mass". BAH!

The Body and Soul of the Rosary

If you think about it, it is truly amazing that there is an all powerful God who wants to save us from an eternity of misery. Think of your worst day. I've had a doozy, and the only thing that got me through it was thinking "I can go to bed at the end of the day, wake up, and put this all behind me".

But in hell there won't be that. It will be eternal misery over and over again. We'll force ourselves farther and farther from God, and all that is good. God, however, is doing all He can to prevent that. He gave us an excellent weapon to use too; The Rosary.

Most people don't understand the rosary. When I suggest it as a meditation device people think I'm nuts. The Rosary is meant to be meditative. There is a body and soul to the Rosary; the body is the physical aspects, the prayers and beads. The soul is the spiritual and hidden aspects; the meditation on the mysteries.

A lot of people forget that second part but we have to remember that a human seperate from their soul is dead. What then is the Rosary without the meditations? If you can truly balance the body and soul of the Rosary the effects are astounding, and the graces abundant.

There's a lady who prays the Rosary over the radio in my area and she rushes through the Hail Mary's so quickly that the last sentence sounds like "nowandatthehourofourdeathamen". Literally 'death' and 'amen' are said in the same breath. It's very off putting and completely defeats the purpose of the Blessed Rosary. The prayers should breath through you steadily, and the mysteries should surround your imagination. Imagine the joy and rest Mary was anticipating as she made it to St. Elizabeth's. Imagine the smells at the Crucifixion, touching Christ's bloodstained feet. Imagine the sounds of the angels' praise as Our Lord ascended.

Balance the Body and Soul of the Rosary. Keep them together and the depth of your understanding will continue to grow and pervade every bit of your life. Our Mother is one of our greatest advocates, and will not turn us away if we sincerely seek her son's Divine Will.

The True Place of Scripture

It's sort of tough for me to admit it, but there was a time when I strongly disliked the Bible. I hated how everyone around me was twisting it to tell me what was true. As a protestant I had no final authority except for Scripture, and whoever had the strongest interpretation was who I believed. Of course, the argument of who's interpretation was strongest is very subjective, and as such my personal beliefs changed often.

At one point, just before discovering the Catholic Church, I even wished for a Christian Church that didn't use the Bible. It sounds sort of silly now, but I was being pulled in all these different directions and the Bible seemed to be at the root of it. In actuality it was men at the root of it, who had formed the Sola Scriptura heresy, but I had never even heard the term 'sola scriptura'. I just wanted to get away from the Bible.

Well I tried too hard I think. To this day I don't like reading Scripture. I love listening to it at Mass, but when I think "you need to knuckle down and start learning this" I turn away. I'm still too prejudiced against it.

See, I think part of me is afraid that I will start to put Scripture back on the pedestal that it doesn't belong on, the one Luther put it on so long ago. Scripture is the only inspired texts of our God, but it's given too much weight that is not counterbalanced by Sacred Tradition in the protestant religions. I am still working my mind around keeping these two Inspired Revelations on equal footing.

It is Catholic to view them as equal. God has not spoken only through Scripture, but through Oral Tradition, and these have both been passed on to us from our ancestors.

Anyway, I think I'm going to start using the Agape Bible Study Online to research more. I may even start with the Old Testament, as I don't have as much of a bias there because not many protestant teachings come from the Old Testament. I need to accept and welcome Scripture back into my life and leave behind the bad taste left by protestant interpretations.

St. Jerome would smack me silly...

What Our Faith Means

I was sitting at a pub in my town one day during my conversion to Catholicism, when a friend asked me what Catholics believe. Afterwards I wrote this, and I think it should be available to someone else who might stumble across it, and maybe make up for what I didn't do that day. I just found it again tonight in my computer.

She probably wasn’t really interested. Not in a genuinely spiritual sense. She was my friend, and knew I was converting, and so she asked me, in a very nonchalant way;

“So, what do Catholics believe?”

I stared at her for a moment, sitting across from me in a pub downtown, the wood table highly polished and the bar downstairs already a little loud. Clearly she didn’t understand the meaning of her question. The depth that an explanation would require. What do Catholics believe?

I faltered, and said the easiest thing would be to recite The Creed. So I did, and she asked a few questions about it, but I always felt that I let myself down, and The Church.

What do we believe? Where to begin! Should I mention the pouring of pure water from a silver shell across the head of a newborn baby, the Holy Baptism that marks the introduction into a Catholic’s life? Well what about what that Sacrament does? The washing away of that Original Sin that marks us all? Well then I would have to mention our First Parents and that day long, long ago…and the apple that started it all.

Or turning from The Sacraments, what about Mary? She probably wouldn’t have even understood how controversial our Mother is, or why Protestant Missionaries would want to desecrate her shrine. I could speak about the rosary, and the multitude of flowers dropped at the feet of the Queen of Heaven as we recite each ‘Ave’.

Or the Latin! How it has breached the borders and spread our Faith across an entire globe. The solemnity of it, the importance of knowing how to speak in our family’s tongue. How it brings us together and why we feel this ‘dead’ language is so alive.

Maybe I should go into the Angels who were with us, sitting in that booth. Her Guardian Angel, and mine, and the archangels who approach the throne of God, and who are sent to defend us. I could’ve told her about the sword of St. Michael, or the touch of St. Raphael, or the voice of St. Gabriel. I could’ve taught her the prayer to her Guardian Angel, and informed her of the fact that she has had a heavenly helper, and an intercessor, all the days of her life.

The saints! On our rosaries, our medals, in our books and prayers. The truth of their lives, both on Earth and in Heaven. Their special quirks that live on in the way they answer our prayers, and the steady trust we have in them, brought on by their never-failing intercession and continuing prayers to God.

But really, when it comes down to it. I should’ve told her about a cross. A rough, splinter-filled, blood stained cross that hoisted upon it a man who was more than a man. A man who was God, and yet no less a human being. A man who had friends who abandoned Him, a mother who loved Him, a religion that had been taught to Him. The God, who had created the world, and us, and who wanted to save us from a fate we had brought about so long ago, with an apple.

I should’ve spoken about a crown of thorns that was more beautiful and glorious than any wrought today from the purest gold, silver, and gems. About a military cloak, saturated with scabs and blood, that created a garment that seemed to be more grand that the longest robes worn by Kings. I should’ve spoken of three nails, that hung Him there, propped us for all to see, throughout all time.

His Sacred Heart, and the blood, and the water, that poured from it. His Divine Mercy, which flows from Heaven down to us everyday and lets us make it to tomorrow.

I should’ve have given my lips to the Holy Spirit and let Him lead me to say words that would’ve touched her heart and made her think, “Maybe…”

Instead I recited The Creed. I mentioned nothing of the flesh and blood that we believed in, I only gave the skeleton. In saying The Creed I presented her with a gift that still may one day spring to the forefront of her mind, but didn’t give her the living faith. I gave her the basics, and none of the meat.

It’s haunted me ever since.

Just Being Catholic.

Sometimes I get a real joy out of just doing something so intrinsically Catholic. Yesterday, for example, I received Confession. I love the feeling of coming out of the Confessional. I feel so at peace and free. As Father says the words of absolution I can just feel my sins melting away. Confession is one of the greatest gifts of Our Lord.

After Confession I was heading out of St. Mary's and I stopped. To the right of the side door I was exiting there is a shrine to Mary as Our Lady of Fatima. It's a little recessed in and there are tiers of candles on either side of her. It's beautiful with the flickering light and the statue is a true work of art.

As of then I had never prayed before it, but something just tugged at me last night. I went and knelt for a few moments, reciting a Hail Mary and a few other little prayers before finally getting up and leaving.

Just the actions of doing something so Catholic made me feel so...good. I felt reunited to the Church, and to myself. It kept a smile on my face all night long. I went to Borders and picked up some books, one of which is Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton. The parts I've read so far have been very funny and insightful.

I look forward to my next little 'so-very-Catholic' moment. They're almost like islands in the day that hold us fast to Christ's Church.

I am Catholic. Hear Me Pray.

Well, this is my second foray into blogging my life as I attempt to convert my heart towards Our Lord in the practices that have sustained the Catholic faithful since the Council of Trent. The first sort of fell apart...not enough interest on my part. That was a while ago though, and now maybe I can get back into the groove.

So I am a Traditional Catholic. A young Traditional Catholic. There are more of us out there than you'd think. Especially more of us out there than some people would wish. The fact is that those Catholics who remain Catholic do so because they know that being Catholic is special, and the traditional Rites and devotions more explicitly pronounce Catholicism uniqueness. The Novus Ordo, though a valid and occasionally beautiful right, pales in comparison to the Tridentine, and, I'm sorry, but to look at the prayers of the Pre Vatican II Baptismal, Marriage, Ordination, and Anointing Rites and say they are equal in beauty and meaning to our current Rites is ridiculous.

In a world where a crucifix in a urinal passes as great art, it is a tough business trying to stay true to God's Church. Everyone says you're too strict, or that "God wouldn't really care". I believe He does. It matters which denomination you belong to (and the only true "non-denominational" Christian Church is the Catholic Church which, by definition, is not a denomination). It matters whether or not you attend Mass on Sunday, or go to Confession. Yes God wants you to tell your sins to a 'man'.

I'm far from perfect. I simply try and conform to Our Lord's will. Luckily, we have a beacon on a hill to guide us; The Holy Catholic Church.