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Voris on how to improve the Church January 10, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, North Deanery.
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If you’re unhappy with the direction your parish, with the teaching materials used in Catechism classes, or in the schools, or with speakers who are coming into the parish, etc., or if you’re concerned about the larger Church, Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV has some suggestions on what to do.  Don’t just tune him out, this is very good advice for everyone:

I agree with everything he says, except for labelling those who have been behind the dissent in the Church as the “left.”  It’s not a left-right issue, and I think it undermines faithful Catholics to allow the debate to be framed as such, because then we, faithful Catholics, just get accused of playing politics.  It’s an issue of Truth, whether what goes on in our various parishes is truly the Truth revealed by Jesus Christ, or not.  It’s orthodoxy – adherence to that Truth, versus heterodoxy, deviating from that Truth.  The Truth has been revealed and is unchanging.  If you deviate from it, you are telling God He’s just not that smart, and that what He has revealed doesn’t work anymore.  If you are, for instance, insisting that women have the right to be ordained priests, when that has never occurred before, there is no basis for such ordination in Scripture or Tradition, etc., then you are telling God that His plan for His Church is flawed, that He did not quite get it right.  That is an impossibility.

Steve Boor and I will be teaching a Catechism at St. Mark in Plano starting on January 22 at 7:00 pm in the parish library.  This course if free, except for the cost of the materials.  I pray this class will be a way to help many grow in the Faith.  The course will meet weekly for 12 weeks.

One final note – those who are heterodox in the Faith are not nearly so well grounded in the Faith as they like to let on, in my experience.  There is a thin veneer of knowledge, but beyond that not much more than straw men and shibolleths.

More gold from a Kempis January 10, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, General Catholic, The Imitation of Christ.
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I don’t know if anyone likes these posts of writings of Thomas a Kempis or not.  I hope so, I find great value in them, but maybe they sound too ‘preachy’ today.  From The Imitation of Christ, Book 1, Chapter 10.

Fly the tumult of men as much as thou canst; for treating of wordly affairs hinders very much although they be discoursed of with a simple intention.

For we are quickly defiled and ensnared with vanity.

I wish I had oftener been silent and that I had not been in company.

But why are we so willing to talk and discoruse with one another, since we seldom return to sielence without prejudice [damage – ED] to our conscience.

The reason we are so willing to talk is, because by discoursing together we seek comfort from one another; and would gladly ease the heart, wearied by various thoughts.

And we very willingly talk and think of such things as we most love and desire, or which we imagine imagine contrary to us.

But, alas! It is often in vain and to no prupose: for this outward consolation is no small hindrance to interior and divine comfort.

Therefore we must watch and pray (Matt 26:41) that our time may not pass away without fruit.

If it be lawful and expedient to speak, speak those things which may edify.

A bad custom, and the neglect of our spiritual advancement, are a great cause of our keeping so little guard upon our mouth.

But devout conferences concerning spiritual things help very much to spiritual progress, especially where persons of the same mind and spirit are associated together in God.

So, silence is golden, and shut yer mouth.  I wonder how a Kempis would view blogs.  Hmmm

A few thoughts on yesterday January 10, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Dallas Diocese, North Deanery, sadness.
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I’ve been having a few thoughts related to the tragedy we were part of yesterday:

If we hadn’t been delayed 20-30 seconds by the kids getting orange juice in the cafeteria at St. William, we could have been the vehicle that got struck by the sliding Dodge pickup.  We got to the scene about 30 seconds after the accident occurred.  And there I was, being my usual impatient self, pushing them to hurry.  Because I was worried about the deteriorating road conditions, but like 30 seconds would make a difference, right?

We never know when the Lord will call us to our real home.  Many Saints prayed not to die suddenly, to have recourse to the Sacrament of Extreme Unction/Holy Viaticum prior to death, to insure they died in a state of grace.  Today, many people hope to die quickly, suddenly, withou suffering.  To wish that is to ultimately deny oneself a final chance at dying in the Grace of God and to give up those sufferings that may be of great benefit to one’s own, or many other, souls.

In spite of all the safety advances of recent years, small cars are inherently dangerous compared to large, modern vehicles.  While the people in the small car were killed near instantly, the driver of the pickup, which flipped, was essentially uninjured.  Mass does matter, and a late model 3/4 ton Dodge weighs about 6000+ lbs, while a Neon weighs about 3200.  My truck, with all the add ons, weighs about 7200 lbs.  That doesn’t mean that I couldn’t roll it and die any day.  But on the whole, you’re more likely to survive being in a larger vehicle.  New fuel economy regulations promulgated by the Obama Administration will make large vehicles like full size pickups and SUVs virtually impossible to sell within the next 5 years or so, unless those standards are revised.  The smaller vehicles that result from this new standard will be inherently more dangerous than larger, legacy vehicles.

My wife had wanted to go to Mater Dei, since it was known that the temperatures and bad weather would be worse in Greenville than in the central Dallas area.  On the way to Greenville, she actually wanted to turn around.  But she wondered last night if God did not put us there for a purpose yesterday.  I am not one to try to ascertain the workings of Providence in cases like this – it is a possibility I do not discount, nor necessarily accept.   Only God truly knows.