Why aren’t liberals more critical of islam? May 17, 2013
Posted by tantamergo in Basics, demographics, disaster, error, foolishness, General Catholic, Holy suffering, horror, persecution, sadness, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, Society.add a comment
I found this post on a blog I don’t read very often, bookwormroom, discussing the very strange and really nonsensical phenomenon of why liberals constantly attack Christianity, but bend over backwards, upside down, and inside out, to give islam a pass. I think it has some merit, but also misses some rather significant reasons:
The article I read on this subject is Benjamin Wiker’s “Why aren’t liberals more critical of Islam?” In it, he posits that, because secularism arose within and in opposition to a Christian Europe and America, Christianity was its original enemy. Giving proof, however, to my repeated claim that “Progressives” are actually profoundly “regressive,” secularists (i.e., Leftists) continue their battle with Christianity despite that particular war having ended long ago. Judaism and Christianity absorbed the better parts of secularism while holding on to their core religious principles. [Well, the author is probably quite right regarding the absorption of secularism, but I would argue that doing so has badly disfigured Christianity and left the Church - and Christianity in general - in a profound crisis. Because secularism and Christianity are not complimentary ideologies, but implacably hostile ones. To the extent the Church and various sects have embraced secularism, they have been wounded by the experience. The Catholic Church fought mightily against doing so for three or more centuries, then suddenly tore down the bastions of resistance in the latter half of the 20th century. The result has been catastrophe, the biggest, most universal collapse in the practice of the Faith the Church has seen in its 2000 year history]
Because they are locked forever in an ideological time warp, says Wiker, liberals (or Progressives or Leftists or whatever else they call themselves to avoid the taint their ideas leave behind) cannot contemplate the possibility that there is another enemy, greater than their old foe Christianity.
And here I think the author makes a critical mistake. Yes, it is ludicrous that progressives ignore the truly monstrous ideology of islam, which poses at present a far more direct threat to progressives interests than does Christianity, but perhaps the progressives aren’t so blind and dumb as we think. Secular pagan progressivism is locked in a death struggle with Christianity. Secularism knows that a culture can either embrace secular values, or Christian ones, but not both. So, even though secularism is at present highly ascendent, and the Church and Christianity in general quite moribund, secularism still knows that the most existential threat to its existence resides in Christiainity. I think secularists are highly confident that they can pervert and corrupt islam much more easily than they have Christianity. They may be wrong about that, but there are many signs they are not. For one thing, as islam has become exposed to the modern world, their birth rate has collapsed at a rate faster than any seen in recorded history (true for most countries, not all, but most). Islamic embrace of the worst of western immorality, like rampant porn use, is another sign that islam may not stand up to secularism. But, at the same time, islam possesses such a perverse moral code, many muslims see no problem in brutally subjugating their wives and daughters while getting off to western porn at night. Such isn’t even seen as immoral.
I think there is something to the idea that pagan sexularism cannot recognize the threat of islam for many reasons, one of the most prime of which is the inherent hostility towards Christianity creating an attitude of sophist admiration for any non-Christian religion, a willingness to turn a blind eye to the deformed immoralities of islam or voodoo or whatever, and seeing in these groups a falsely benign alternative to “evil” Christianity. Sort of along the lines of the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
In fact, the author Wiker noted above gets it, whereas I don’t think bookworm did. Secularists are not only blind to the fact that all other religions are highly deficient in comparison to Christianity, and most of them are much more violently hostile to secularism, but secularism needs these other religions to be “good” in order to continue painting Christianity in a bad light. Secularism needs to be able to say that “islam is the religion of peace,” in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, so they can claim that Christianity is the religion of death and war. Even though that is completely inside out and upside down. As pretty much all secularist thinking is.
But while the radical pagan sexularists of the modern West may have huge blind-spots, they are not dumb. Or not as dumb as they act. While we Catholics may look around and say “what else could the secularists do to destroy our culture?,” the secularists look around and see a very unfinished job. They are not nearly done driving Christianity, and especially the embodiment of it, the Church, from the public square. Sexular paganism with a strong socialist bent has as its highest imperative the destruction of Christianity. I fear things will get much, much worse, before they get better.
But, we know how the story will end. So, never fear. It can actually be a very good thing to live in a time of persecution. Both white and red martyrdom atone for many sins, and may speed one’s way to Heaven. All we need to worry about is our own personal practice of virtue and adhering to the Truth Christ has revealed through His Church. Nothing else really matters.
Build a Catholic Culture – compliment women veiling! May 16, 2013
Posted by tantamergo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Holy suffering, Interior Life, Latin Mass, persecution, Tradition, Virtue.6 comments
If we are to rebuild a distinctively Catholic culture, we’re going to have to live to learn, publicly, like Catholics. That will mean, for many of us, many changes in behavior. One of the prime areas to change our behaviors is to dress with modesty, especially at church (or at least at church!). 50 years go, the sight of a woman with a bare head at Mass would have been a rare one, indeed, and would likely have been considered a scandal. But nowadays, it’s almost the reverse – outside of traditional parishes, it’s incredibly rare to see any chapel veils, and some are even scandalized by their presence! If you’re like my wife, you’ve almost certainly heard comments like “We don’t have to wear those anymore!,” or “does your husband make you wear that? Do you need help? (as I’m abusive or something.”
But there are still souls out there who are edified by seeing such a wonderful witness to the Faith. My blog gal-pal Jay Boyd has a post which is actually a print of the comment by the same Elizabeth who comments here. It’s about a woman getting a very nice compliment from a man on wearing her veil. Jay posted this around Mother’s Day, but I think it’s still apropos to repost now:
I wanted to share a “mother moment” I had this morning, I truly believe, with our Blessed Mother.
Before I entered the church at the nearby Novus Ordo parish, I came up with a compromise of sorts with my self-consciousness when wearing a veil at a NO church. All winter, I simply wore a hat at Mass. Now that it’s not hat weather…uh oh.So I put the veil over my head and tied it back under my hair, like a bandana. Silly, eh? I figured that this would be a way to ease into wearing it, while at the same time not being quite so noticeable to others. I know… like everyone in the church is looking at me, right?And besides, who cares if everyone looks at you! Further silliness!
So I knelt in my spot in front of the gorgeous statue of Our Lady, right up front in the handicapped row, and asked her to please help me to not be concerned about the looks I may get from others, or what other people may or may not think about it (including the army of VII priests there). I asked Her to please help me to don my veil at every Mass – just like I used to when I was able to attend the Traditional Mass, where every woman wears one. Please, please, please. Then I said a Hail Mary and the St. Michael prayer to settle myself in for the Mass, and sat back in the pew.There was a tap on my shoulder.I turned around to face a rather handsome, serious-faced man who leaned forward to whisper to me, “I haven’t seen a woman wearing a veil in church in decades. I just wanted to tell you how beautiful it is to see you wearing a veil. Thank you for that.”I kid you not: that’s what he said. And no one can tell me that that wasn’t an answer to my heartfelt prayer! It brought a tear to my eyes, and I thanked Our Lady.Awesome moment.
Fr. Rodriguez’ plea to our nation’s bishops May 13, 2013
Posted by tantamergo in abdication of duty, awesomeness, Basics, episcopate, error, General Catholic, persecution, priests, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, sickness, Society, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
This was given on Ascension Thursday. I like how Fr. Rodriguez gives very detailed, specifically-composed prayers at the introduction of his sermons. That is rare, even among traditional priests.
There is about 17 minutes of actual sermon, outside the prayer.
There is a great listing of just some of the authoritative, dogmatic statements from popes and councils regarding Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus, or outside the Church there is no salvation, from ~8:45 – 10:00.
Discusses Quas Primas and the Social Kingship of Jesus Christ from 10:00 – 11:00.
There is much more. If you listen to no other part, at least listen to 18:30 – 18:55, when he describes to the bishops of Holy Mother Church that we, the Church, exist in a spiritual battle with the forces of darkness, and for quite some time, the forces of darkness have been slaughtering us. I ask, me, tantamergo, I ask: how can that be? It’s absolutely true, but given the overwhelming power of Christ and His Church over satan and all evil, how can the Church be losing this battle? There is only one answer – we are not pleasing Christ in our belief or practice.
Please pray for Fr. Rodriguez. He is one of a very few fully canonically regular priests who are willing to say these things, especially with regard to the failures of episcopal leadership in the Church. The crisis in the Church is, much like the Arian heresy, a crisis of bishops. And since bishops are the ones given the Grace to lead the Church and lead the fight for the soul of the culture, when they fail to cooperate with that Grace, the result is catastrophe for the Church. Which is precisely what we have seen in the past 50 years.
But none dare speak that truth, because it tends to elicit a violent response. Fr. Rodriguez has experienced that response. He is, quite literally, a voice crying in the wilderness. Pray that he remain steadfast! And pray that he not be unjustly persecuted any further!
IRS targeted conservative, tea party groups during ’12 election May 10, 2013
Posted by tantamergo in asshatery, Dallas Diocese, disaster, error, General Catholic, persecution, scandals, self-serving, sickness, Society.comments closed
Big surprise! A little jaunt into political matters, but I have no doubt that within my lifetime, much if not all conservative speech and even thought will be illegal in this country. If you had told me that 20 years ago, I would not have believed you. But now these things are treated just as a matter of fact. “Why, of course we unfairly targeted and persecuted tea party groups, why would we not?”
The Internal Revenue Service apologized Friday for subjecting Tea Party groups to additional scrutiny during the 2012 election, but denied any political motive.
Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS unit that oversees tax-exempt groups, said organizations that included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their applications for tax-exempt status were singled out for additional reviews. Her remarks, which came at an American Bar Association gathering, were first reported by the Associated Press.
Lerner said the practice, initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati, was wrong.
“It was an error in judgment, and it was not appropriate, But that’s what they did,” Lerner told reporters afterward. She declined to talk about how many employees were involved and whether there would disciplinary action. “I think they were insensitive, or less sensitive than they should have been.”
The error, she said, was in assuming that any group with “tea party” or “patriot” in its name necessarily needed more scrutiny for political activity just because of its name. About 300 groups that had applied for tax-exempt status were put into a “bucket” of cases needing further scrutiny, and of those, about a quarter had tea party affiliations.
That problem was compounded when examiners asked more intrusive questions in what’s known as a “development” process. “Some of the development letters that were send were far to broad and include things like asking for the organization’s donor list, which is not generally what we do,” Lerner said.
Since the problem was discovered sometime last year, the IRS has approved about 130 of the original 300 applications, and about 25 have been withdrawn.
Approved, a year after it would have done any good?! Gee, THANKS! Over half have still been denied their applications. Why are they still being persecuted, if this was all a “mistake?”
And you can see how the media’s constant villification of all the opponents of their dark lord and savior pays off. No, I’m not talking about his skin color. Have the media turn conservatives into some kind of radical terrorist organization, then use the organizations to persecute, prosecute, or just abolish those organizations so declared. Remember how Janet Napolitano declared that Catholics, pro-lifers, gun-rights advocates, etc, etc., the whole panoply of conservative causes, were dangerous, and placed them on a sort of terrorism watch list? This is just one, of many, results.
As I said the other day, America, I’m ashamed of you. You’d rather watch honey boo boo and all the other trash (Good Lord, I was exposed to some morning talk/titillation show on a UHF channel the other day…..uff da, just garbage) than spend 5 minutes figuring what this Obama creature is. So long as the checks keep rolling in, I suppose.
If any of you think Benghazi is going to hurt this president in the slightest, you’re sorely mistaken.
My God…..unspeakable atrocities committed against Syrian Christians May 9, 2013
Posted by tantamergo in Society, scandals, foolishness, Ecumenism, sickness, disaster, horror, persecution, error, unadulterated evil, Holy suffering, secularism, catachesis, self-serving, abdication of duty.comments closed
Before I begin, the photo below is extremely disturbing. This photo is not suitable for children at all, nor those with sensitive consciences. I found it extremely disturbing.
I have blogged about the ongoing and worsening plight of Christians in the Mideast many times. It is an unbearable fact that our government has been backing forces in the Mideast which have been, and continue to, engage in a nightmarish persecution of Christians. The Obama administration, no stranger to persecuting Christians, drove Mubarak out of Egypt and helped usher the radical Muslim Brotherhood into power. Attacks against Egyptian Christians have escalated terribly since these radical islamists came into power.
In Iraq, the idiotic US war to try to install a liberal democracy in a place where none has ever existed, amongst the most illiberal people in the world, instead engendered a huge increase in radicalism islamism and the brutal persecution of the ancient Christian (specifically, Catholic) minority. 3/4 or more of Iraqi Christians had to flee the onslaught of violence they were subjected to as a result.
And in Syria, home to the oldest Christian population in the world, Christians are being told by the so-called “Free Syrian Army,” really nothing but a puppet of Saudi wahhabist terrorists and the increasingly radical Turkish regime, that they may either convert, leave, or die. Hundreds of thousands of Christians have already driven from Iraq, are now being subjected to new tortures, while Syria’s 2.5 million Christians are fleeing to Lebanon in droves. They will soon run out of places to run to, at least in the Mideast, and the great islamist purging of Christians -aided and abetted by our government – will be complete.
I found the photo below on the Pertinacious Papist blog, accompanied by the following text:
A Chaldean Catholic in our community sent this image along with an email. The image carried the caption:
“POOR CHRISTIANS….. “UNFORTUNATELY OUR WESTERN MEDIAS NEVER MENTION THE SUFFERING OF THE CHRISTIANS IN SYRIA … WE NEED TO TAKE ACTION. PLEASE SEND THIS MESSAGE TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND RELATIVES”
In the email, the Chaldean correspondent wrote:
“Atrocities that the Muslim terrorists are committing in Syria. We have too help the Syrians and especially the Christians who are being slaughtered by these atrociously wicked terrorists. My heart is crying for what is taking place in Syria and unfortunately instead of the West taking action they sit idle and allow Syria to disintegrate and the Syrians be butchered.”
Of course the media doesn’t report these atrocities, it doesn’t serve their interests. And the is about nothing if not serving their own, especially political, interests. That’s one of the main reasons why this country has fallen so far. But, even more to the point, most in the media frankly hate Christians, many are fallen Christians themselves, probably burdened with all manner of whacked-out consciences, and so they try to pretend that muslims are sweet, innocent, and exotic “others,” others who have been put upon by the evil West and especially the Church, and certainly far superior to the “bible-humping” “Christofascist” psychopaths who love to pretend they’re so much better than everyone else and are who richly deserve everything they’re getting at the hands of the innocents they’ve so long oppressed. Yes, oppressors like this:
I made the photo as small as I could. You can click on it to make it bigger if you are so inclined. This little girl was obviously raped horrifically before being brutally murdered. I have studied the photo, as unpleasant as that was, and I believe it to be genuine. Her torturers tried to cut off her left breast, but must have given up, for some reason. There have been numerous reports from France, Sweden, Denmark, and other “Christian” countries, of young girls about this age being repeatedly gang-raped by groups of muslim men and boys. Sometimes over twenty men take part in these attacks, and the physical damage alone can be beyond mention, but I’ll say one word: colostomy. All for failing to wear a burqa or hijab – in a Christian country! Or at least a formerly Christian one! If you don’t believe me, click here.
We must pray, pray, pray for these suffering Christians. And we must lobby our government to stop giving aid and comfort to those who would murder others simply for being of another faith. Not that it will do much good with our current muslim-in-chief, we still must stand for what is right and defend the many Catholics and other Christians suffering at the hands of these barbarians. And we must steel ourselves for a future where this kind of thing could be occurring in our country (I know, it already does, but thankfully rarely as of yet) on a near daily basis. Europe is likely to see more and more of the above as it becomes increasingly islamized.
And yet, we have Catholics, with very high authority in the Church, whose highest priority with regard to islam is to credentialize it via ecumenism.
Lord, have mercy on that girl, and on us.
Dallas Bishop Mark Seitz to El Paso May 6, 2013
Posted by tantamergo in Dallas Diocese, episcopate, General Catholic, persecution, priests, sanctity, Tradition, true leadership.comments closed
Dallas auxiliary Bishop Mark Seitz has been named by Pope Francis as the new Bishop of El Paso:
Today Pope Francis appointed Bishop Mark J. Seitz, an auxiliary bishop for the Diocese of Dallas, as head of the Diocese of El Paso, Texas. The El Paso see has been vacant since February 2012, when Bishop Armando Ochoa was installed as bishop of Fresno, California.
Bishop Seitz, who serves on the USCCB’s Subcommittee on Hispanic Affairs, will take over a diocese spanning 10 counties in West Texas, which includes some 650,000 Catholics, 80 percent of the area’s over-all population.
In a statement released by the Diocese of Dallas, Bishop Seitz said that he has cherished his time there: “Since I entered the seminary here in Dallas as a young 18-year old boy, I have loved Dallas and the Church of Dallas. You have become my family. Dallas has become my home. But when I presented myself for ordination as a deacon, I gave my life to God’s service and I promised to be at the disposal of the Church. I accept this call as a new opportunity to follow the Good Shepherd and, with His help, to be one.”
Congratulations to Bishop Seitz, and the people of El Paso, who may not have gotten their every wish but do, at least, have an Ordinary after a very long wait. I know there has been much prayer and sacrifice offered up for the new Bishop of El Paso. There is a well of Grace there, waiting to be tapped. I pray it is.
It will be interesting to see if Dallas gets another auxiliary bishop, or not.
I have read the installation Mass will be May 25! That’s quick, and good, for El Paso has been without a shepherd for a year and a half.
Pope Francis has now appointed several American prelates. From what I have seen, they have all been pretty strongly on the orthodox/conservative side? I think that is how Bishop Seitz is viewed. I know he has actually railed (ok, that’s probably too strong a word, but complained, certainly) against episcopal failures to be true shepherds, to always strive for the salvation of souls. He knows how many in the episcopate are viewed, and I think he finds that both embarrassing and a personal challenge to be different. We’ll see.
Bishop Seitz is by all accounts a very kind man. I have a friend that was the director of youth ed at All Saints for a year or two while Bishop Seitz was still pastor there, and my friend thought quite highly of him. There is the well known tale of his donating a kidney to a parishioner at All Saints who was in desperate need of that organ, and then Msgr. Seitz was a match. That is an act of extreme charity, something which redounds immensely to his credit.
I pray he has some charity for Fr. Rodriguez. Not that Fr. Rodriguez’ present situation is necessarily a negative one, for him personally, but it does limit how many souls he can serve.
If you have personal experience with Father/Bishop Seitz, provided it is relevant and not a personal issue, it might be beneficial to the souls in El Paso to share your experience with him in the comments.
Love can conquer all May 3, 2013
Posted by tantamergo in awesomeness, Basics, episcopate, Glory, Grace, persecution, sexual depravity, sickness, Society, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
Perhaps a message this blog to stand to ponder. I wrote about Bishop Andre-Joseph Leonard of Belgium last week, and how he was violently attacked by a mob of shrieking harpies radical feminist extremists. It seems his calm, prayerful response, and loving witness, won over the hostile crowd he was facing on the issue of blasphemy and homosexual “rights,” and, in effect, utterly defeated the purpose of his crazed attackers (I add emphasis and comments):
In a letter sent to the head of the Catholic Church in Belgium all of Europe’s bishops expressed solidarity with Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, who was doused with water in a violent attack by four topless lesbian activists last week.
The bishops were represented by the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE).
In the press release announcing the letter, the CCEE called Archbishop Leonard a “victim of an act of religious intolerance.”…….[it was an act of anti-Catholic hatred. These tragically deranged women have perpetrated many such attacks. They are curiously uninterested in attacking muslim mistreatment of women and hatred of homosexuality. Because that would be, you know, kind of dangerous and all, and wouldn't win them the applause they so desperately seek. They also, in spite of all their lesbian, feminist rhetoric, seem to crave the approval of men. Rather odd, isn't it?]
…….The incident captured the attention of the worldwide media since, in addition to the topless women, Archbishop Leonard shocked reporters and attendees alike with an astonishing display of gentleness as he remained seated, eyes closed in prayer while the topless women attacked him with shouts and curses and doused him with water.
Even Archbishop Leonard’s debate opponent at the university where the incident took place, despite his vehement disagreement with the Archbishop on his stance on homosexuality, protested the violent actions of the gay and abortion-activist women……..
…..Haarscher [his debate opponent] added that his own support for Archbishop Leonard’s right to express his opinions was noteworthy, “especially since I am in total agreement with [the women] and disagree with Leonard on homosexuality.”
As LifeSiteNews.com reported in its previous coverage of the April 23 attack, it’s not the first time Archbishop Leonard has been attacked for standing up for the Church’s teachings on homosexuality and abortion.
Since 2007 alone, he has been pied, denounced by the prime minister, and brought before courts for his teaching on the dangers of homosexual acts to body and soul. [Why, that all sounds strangely like a formal persecution, doesn't it? A Catholic prelate brought up before courts and government officials and threatened to apostasize? Just burn a little incense for the sexular pagan culture?]
Archbishop Leonard’s calm and prayerful demeanor in the face of the attack won him his audience according to his debate opponent.
Prof. Haascher said that seeing the calm reaction to the attack “immediately attracted the sympathy of an audience that it was not really favorable…as you can imagine.”
Good for Bishop Leonard. May God bless, his apostolate, and his diocese abundantly. And may he stand as strong in his witness to the Faith in every area of his administration. May he be a true heir to the Apostles.
Pentagon to court martial soldiers who share Christian faith? May 1, 2013
Posted by tantamergo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, error, foolishness, General Catholic, Holy suffering, persecution, sadness, scandals, secularism, sickness, Society.comments closed
What about muslims sharing their faithiness? I bet they get a total pass. Well, at least red martyrdom will dramatically shorten time in Purgatory, if not eliminating it all together:
The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: “Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense…Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis…”.
The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith.
(From our earlier report: Weinstein is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and says Christians–including chaplains–sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military are guilty of “treason,” and of committing an act of “spiritual rape” as serious a crime as “sexual assault.” He also asserted that Christians sharing their faith in the military are “enemies of the Constitution.”)
Being convicted in a court martial means that a soldier has committed a crime under federal military law. Punishment for a court martial can include imprisonment and being dishonorably discharged from the military.
So President Barack Obama’s civilian appointees who lead the Pentagon are confirming that the military will make it a crime–possibly resulting in imprisonment–for those in uniform to share their faith. This would include chaplains—military officers who are ordained clergymen of their faith (mostly Christian pastors or priests, or Jewish rabbis)–whose duty since the founding of the U.S. military under George Washington is to teach their faith and minister to the spiritual needs of troops who come to them for counsel, instruction, or comfort.
This regulation would severely limit expressions of faith in the military, even on a one-to-one basis between close friends. It could also effectively abolish the position of chaplain in the military, as it would not allow chaplains (or any service members, for that matter), to say anything about their faith that others say led them to think they were being encouraged to make faith part of their life. It’s difficult to imagine how a member of the clergy could give spiritual counseling without saying anything that might be perceived in that fashion.
This actually seems unusually strident and ham handed. Obama has to know how all these anti-Catholic actions and persecutions he is taking look (he may fully understand this, he just may not care). I have to wonder if this isn’t one of many little bonehead things the Pentagon does every day, which in terms of practical effects is nil? Still, it’s troubling. I think we can all see where society is headed, and it’s a place where Christians will not be welcome.
Archbishop Cordileone defends marriage, and quite well April 30, 2013
Posted by tantamergo in awesomeness, Basics, catachesis, episcopate, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Holy suffering, persecution, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, Society, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
This from USAToday. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, a friend of the Traditional Latin Mass, offers a very strong defense of marriage. Some excerpts:
To legalize marriage between two people of the same sex would enshrine in the law the principle that mothers and fathers are interchangeable or irrelevant, and that marriage is essentially an institution about adults, not children; marriage would mean nothing more than giving adults recognition and benefits in their most significant relationship……
…If the Supreme Court overturns Prop 8, this will not go down in history as the Loving v. Virginia but as the Roe v. Wade decision of our generation….. [I couldn't agree more! And I am increasingly certain the Supreme Court will Roe us on this matter]
…..No matter what the Supreme Court rules, this debate is not over. Marriage is too important and the issues raised by treating same-gender unions as marriages are too fundamental to just go away. Just as Roe v. Wade did not end the conversation about abortion, so a ruling that tries to import same-sex marriage into our Constitution is not going to end the marriage debate, but intensify it.
We will have a bitterly polarized country divided on the marriage issue for years if not generations to come….. [Yep, and the slowly shrinking Christian minority will be increasingly viciously persecuted primarily on the basis of their oppostion to the state giving marriage-like recognition to rank immorality]
…….But the larger picture that’s becoming increasingly clear is that this is not just a debate about what two people do in their private life, it’s a debate about a new public norm: Either you support redefining marriage to include two people of the same sex or you stand accused by law and culture of bigotry and discrimination.
If you want to know what this new public legal and social norm stigmatizing traditional believers will mean for real people, ask David and Tanya Parker, who objected to their kindergarten son being taught about same sex marriage after the Massachusetts Supreme Court legalized it in that state and wanted to pull him out of class for that lesson. He was arrested and handcuffed for trying to protect his son’s education, and they were told they had no right to do so………
…….Treating same-sex relationships as marriage is the final severing by government of the natural link between marriage and the great task of bringing together male and female to make and raise the next generation together in love……..
And the best one:
…….there are really two different ideas of marriage being debated in our society right now, and they cannot coexist: Marriage is either a conjugal union of a man and a woman designed to unite husband and wife to each other and to any children who may come from their union, or it is a relationship for the mutual benefit of adults which the state recognizes and to which it grants certain benefits. Whoever is for one, is opposed to the other. [This is really key. What we are seeing is a society that is increasingly narcissistic, to a degree that puts the pagans of Roman times to shame. Marriage is about ME. It's what I want it to be! We see more and more people turning other people into little utilitarian tools for themselves. This all stems from the cultural rejection of Christianity, which in terms stems from all the errors that have come to represent "Christianity" in the cultural mindset. The whole protestant, rationalist notion of "liberty" is at the root of all of this.]
Those of us who favor preserving the traditional understanding of marriage do not do so because we want people who experience attraction to their same sex to suffer. We recognize and respect the equal human dignity of everyone. Everyone should be treated equally, but it is not discrimination to treat differently things that are different. Marriage really is unique for a reason.
—————-End Quotes———————
I might briefly add, not only do we not want those with same sex attraction to suffer, but we might take our own experiences with being fallen and then, by the Grace of God, finding a path towards true fulfilment and happiness, to counsel others how to amend their lives. Because that is the point. The point is to save souls (which Cordileone, to his credit, makes in an unquoted part of the text). The point is to bring people to the Light of Christ. But we are so fallen, many of us spend many years not wanting to hear the Truth. We run from it. We even hate it, and those who proclaim it. But it remains. And in the end, we will all confront that Truth. It is infinitely better to confront that Truth now, in this life, than to experience the shock of confronting it unprepared in the next.
April 30th – a sad and glorious day April 30, 2013
Posted by tantamergo in Admin, Basics, disaster, error, foolishness, General Catholic, Holy suffering, persecution, self-serving, sexual depravity, Society.comments closed
I had a most edifying lunch today. I saw a friend and coworker I had not seen in a year or more. He is a Vietnamese expat. In point of fact, his family was profiled in the centerfold of the diocesan newspaper, Texas Catholic, in the most recent issue. He did not make it for the group photo, but most of his family 
was there and you can see them in the paper on page 13. His parents were awesome Catholics, they had 8 kids and have 15 or 16 grandkids. Perhaps God may bring a few more. And I should say congratulations to Hiep, for he and his wife just had another child.
My friend and I share many interests: history, virulent anti-communism, some military affairs, our profession, our Faith, etc. It’s always very good to see him. But he reminded me today, because I had forgotten, that today is a sad anniversary. Today marks the 38th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, the “final” if temporary victory of the communist north over South Vietnam. I say temporary, for there are still millions of practicing Catholics in Vietnam and I have every confidence that God will permit them to throw off this godless enemy of His Church someday soon.
But it was interesting that I saw my friend at this time, and that I the Texas Catholic would have this special edition on some of the Asian Catholics in the Diocese, because I had just finished reading the section of Dr. Warren Carroll’s monumental The Rise and Fall of the Communist Revolution that covered the 
Vietnam war. Dr. Carroll confirmed a view my friend and I have held for a very long time, that the Vietnam War was not lost on April 30, 1975, but on November 2, 1963, with the murder of the only man capable of leading South Vietnam to victory over the communist north (I’m not saying he would have, but he was the only one even remotely capable of it), Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu. Carroll dispels many of the myths and outright lies the media has spread regarding Diem and his rule, and argues persuasively that it was the callous and stunningly amateurish murder of Diem that sealed Vietnam’s fate. The northern communists certainly said so, Carroll quotes several North Vietnamese sources as being joyously stunned at the murder, which convinced the North to ramp up their pressure on the now leaderless South. On November 3, the North Vietnamese politburo released this statement:
“The consequences of the 1 November coup d’état will be contrary to the calculations of the U.S. imperialists … Diệm was one of the strongest individuals resisting the people and Communism. Everything that could be done in an attempt to crush the revolution was carried out by Diệm. Diệm was one of the most competent lackeys of the U.S. imperialists … Among the anti-Communists in South Vietnam or exiled in other countries, no one has sufficient political assets and abilities to cause others to obey. Therefore, the lackey administration cannot be stabilized. The coup d’état on 1 November 1963 will not be the last
Full on invasion by the North followed. The war was now America’s to fight and lead more and more, to the detriment of the South Vietnamese will to fight 
and grow as a nation. Just like welfare, having someone come in and provide for your nation, even in terms of defense, is stultifying and leads to all manner of emotional and psychological ailments. South Vietnamese society, which had been forming up fairly well under Diem (to be sure, there were many problems), fell into corruption and decadence.
From an American Catholic perspective, this whole sad history reveals yet another enormous failing by the Kennedy Administration. For it was the Kennedy Administration that drove the coup that resulted in Diem’s death to fruition. Diem had made a powerful enemy in the bungling, communist-friendly (he wasaccused of being a Soviet spy, which he may in fact have been) W. Averill Harriman, who as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs had travelled to Vietnam and suggested to Diem that his policies were wrong. Diem gave Harriman a good lesson in Vietnamese culture, showing Harriman’s rank ignorance, leaving Harriman feeling personally insulted and determined to remove Diem from power. He got his chance 2 years later, when communist infiltrators within the Vietnamese buddhist community had stirred up international angst through a series of staged immolations of heavily drugged monks. The Kennedy Administration was wavering in its support for Diem, and one Sunday afternoon at the State Department, Harriman, with no official role in government whatsoever, drafted a cable to Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge of S. Vietnam telling him to encourage a coup against Diem. This Lodge did. It must be noted that neither Kennedy, nor Secretary of State Dean Rusk, nor SecDef 
McNamara, nor any senior figure in the Kennedy Administration reviewed or OK’d the cable save for Undersecretary of State George Ball, one of the most liberal members of the Kennedy Administration and an avowed opponent of Diem’s. On Monday, when it was discovered what had occurred, significant infighting developed within the Kennedy Administration, with McNamara, to his rare credit, and many others being aghast at the proposed murder and removal of the leader of a major US ally while that ally was fighting for its life. But Kennedy, to his profound discredit, failed to be moved by the many warnings of disaster should Diem be removed (and the implications that South Vietnam really was nothing but a US puppet, making the war entirely ours), and stuck with the direction of the original cable no one approved. The rest, is history. It’s one of the many shameful acts the only “Catholic” President of this nation routinely committed. It also completely blows out of the water the claim by the Kennedy sycophants that he planned to pull the US out of Vietnam. It was in fact Kennedy’s actions that made it inevitable that huge US forces would be committed.
When reviewing these events, what once again stands out, more than anything, in precipitating this disaster, is the extreme arrogance of Kennedy and his “best and brightest.” They were so sure they knew everything, could do no wrong. Never have so few who thought they knew so much actually known so little.
I mentioned it’s also a glorious day – it’s the Feast of the glorious Sienese lay Dominican, Catherine! I pray that St. Catherine of Siena will fervently implore the Lord to forgive the injustices this nation visited upon the Vietnamese people and to free them from the yoke of oppression. I know her intercessions are very efficacious – I pray her intercession will work a great miracle!
There is another glorious aspect. Had it not been for the ineptly conceived, led, and fought Vietnam War, this country would not have benefited from the presence of several millions of Vietnamese, including my friend and his family. In a sense, I have benefited from their suffering. I know this nation has been greatly blessed by their presence.
