I need serious conversion May 19, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, General Catholic, horror, North Deanery, sadness, scandals, Society.comments closed
One of my biggest fears, for myself and others, is that we have fallen so far as a Church in our collective knowledge and practice of the Faith that we may still fall short of the glory of God. I don’t think we understand that extent to which the modernist mentalities of near universal salvation and indifferentism have affected the thinking of almost all of us Catholics, and even the guidance we receive from bishops and priests. Mary Ann Krietzer has a post regarding some statements from the Saints on the subject of salvation. As in, who will be saved, or how many, relatively speaking.
Not many, is the nearly unaminous opinion of the Saints:
Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church: “As a man lives, so shall he die….It is certain that few are saved.”
Saint Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church: “Out of one hundred thousand sinners who continue in sin until death, scarcely one will be saved.”
Saint Alphonsus Maria Liguori, Doctor of the Church: “Saint Teresa, as the Roman Rota attests, never fell into any mortal sin; but still Our Lord showed her the place prepared for her in Hell; not because she deserved Hell, but because, had she not risen from the state of lukewarmness in which she lived, she would in the end have lost the grace of God and been damned.”
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church: “Those who are saved are in the minority.”
Saint Louis Marie de Montfort: “The number of the elect is so small — so small — that, were we to know how small it is, we would faint away with grief: one here and there, scattered up and down the world!”
Saint Anthony Mary Claret: “A multitude of souls fall into the depths of Hell, and it is of the faith that all who die in mortal sin are condemned for ever and ever. According to statistics, approximately 80,000 persons die every day. How many of these will die in mortal sin, and how many will be condemned! For, as their lives have been, so also will be their end.”
Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, #153: “One day, I saw two roads. One was broad, covered with sand and flowers, full of joy, music and all sorts of pleasures. People walked along it, dancing and enjoying themselves. They reached the end of the road without realizing it. And at the end of the road there was a horrible precipice; that is, the abyss of hell. The souls fell blindly into it; as they walked, so they fell. And their numbers were so great that it was impossible to count them. And I saw the other road, or rather, a path, for it was narrow and strewn with thorns and rocks; and the people who walked along it had tears in their eyes, and all kinds of suffering befell them. Some fell down upon the rocks, but stood up immediately and went on. At the end of the road there was a magnificent garden filled with all sorts of happiness, and all these souls entered there. At the very first instant they forgot all their sufferings.”Blessed Jacinta of Fatima: “So many people are going to die, and almost all of them are going to Hell! So many people falling into hell!”
Lucy of Fatima: “Taking into account the behavior of mankind, only a small part of the human race will be saved.”
I would add that St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila both despaired that very few would be saved. Are all these Saints simply wrong, simply poorly formed products of their time, who did not have the benefit of the wonderful “revelation” which has been made to modern man of near universal salvation? I actually pray so. For I fear these Saints may be right, and very, very many souls have been horribly misled.
Prayer and penance! Humility! Mortification! Suffering for Christ! This the way of Salvation.
Onion lampoons – Planned Barrenhood or pro-lifers? May 19, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, North Deanery, scandals, sickness, silliness, Society.comments closed
Some say this article at the Onion is lampooning pro-lifers and our views of Planned Barrenhood, but if that was the intent, I think they screwed up – I think their sarcasm came too close to reality. I find this a brutally honest sendup of pro-abort shibolleths:
TOPEKA, KS—Planned Parenthood announced Tuesday the grand opening of its long-planned $8 billion Abortionplex, a sprawling abortion facility that will allow the organization to terminate unborn lives with an efficiency never before thought possible.
During a press conference, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards told reporters that the new state-of-the-art fetus-killing facility located in the nation’s heartland offers quick, easy, in-and-out abortions to all women, and represents a bold reinvention of the group’s long-standing mission and values.
“Although we’ve traditionally dedicated 97 percent of our resources to other important services such as contraception distribution, cancer screening, and STD testing, this new complex allows us to devote our full attention to what has always been our true passion: abortion,” said Richards, standing under a banner emblazoned with Planned Parenthood’s new slogan, “No Life Is Sacred.” “And since Congress voted to retain our federal funding, it’s going to be that much easier for us to maximize the number of tiny, beating hearts we stop every day.”
“The Abortionplex’s high-tech machinery is capable of terminating one pregnancy every three seconds,” Richards added. “That’s almost a million abortions every month. We’re so thrilled!”
The 900,000-square-foot facility has more than 2,000 rooms dedicated to the abortion procedure. The abundance of surgical space, Richards said, will ensure that women visiting the facility can be quickly fitted into stirrups without pausing to second-guess their decision or consider alternatives such as adoption. Hundreds of on-site counselors are also available to meet with clients free of charge and go over the many ways that carrying a child to term will burden them and very likely ruin their lives……..
The remaining space is dedicated to amenities such as coffee shops, bars, dozens of restaurants and retail outlets, a three-story nightclub, and a 10-screen multiplex theater—features intended not only to help clients relax, but to foster a sense of community and make abortion more of a social event.
“We really want abortion to become a regular part of women’s lives, especially younger women who have enough fertile years ahead of them to potentially have dozens of abortions,” said Richards, adding that the Abortionplex would provide shuttle service to and from most residences, schools, and shopping malls in the region. “Our hope is for this facility to become a regular destination where a woman in her second trimester can whoop it up at karaoke and then kick back while we vacuum out the contents of her cervix.”
Towards the end, the ‘article’ does take some shots with how I guess the Onion feels pro-life people view those who have abortions, but my thinking is Planned Barrenhood will not be pleased with this, as it’s too close to the truth. I especially found this infographic devastating for pro-aborts:
I have read arguments by pro-aborts for just these kinds of features being included in abortuaries – on-call clergy (Tiller did that), ‘gardens of reflection’ for the child “lost” (as if by accident!), and many abortuaries DO offer ‘frills’ like weekend stays at spa-like locations, taxi service, etc. I think the article was either intended to cut deeply both ways, and wound up cutting the pro-aborts more, or was seriously miscalculated (if it was intended to be more pro-abort).
What do you think?
Jesuits defend drag show at Seattle U. May 19, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, blogfoolery, Dallas Diocese, disaster, General Catholic, religious, sadness, sickness, Society.comments closed
Speaking of college and, at the least, some colleges to stay far, far away from, the ‘director of campus ministry’ at Seattle University, ostensibly a Jesuit run institution, has stated that the drag show held on campus was perfectly, wonderfully moral and absolutely in line with Catholic moral theology:
The director of campus ministry at Seattle University, a Jesuit institution, defended a drag show that took place at the university and criticized the Cardinal Newman Society, which had taken note of it.
“My understanding of a drag show is that it’s men dressing up as women, now what is wrong with that?” said Father Mike Bayard, SJ, who described the Cardinal Newman Society as a “group of Catholics who have come together and said this is what it means to be Catholic.”
“I believe wholeheartedly that Seattle University is thoroughly Catholic,” Father Bayard added. “To be Catholic at Seattle University means to be inclusive.”
Hnmmm……what is wrong with men dressing as women? In the current state of the order founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, where many have the audacity to call themselves Jesuits and are permitted to do so by the order’s decayed and politicized leadership, they apparently aren’t too concerned about things like Sacred Scripture, also known as the inerrant Word of God. For in Deuteronomy 22:5 our Lord stated “A woman shall not be clothed with man’s apparel, neither shall a man use woman’s apparel: for he that doeth these things is abominable before God.” Now I’m certain that the expert Biblical exegetes of the Jesuits would tell us that statements like these were either indicative of the repression of women in the culture of that time, or that we simply misunderstand the plain meaning of Scripture and the above quote doesn’t mean what it say it does. Either that, or the chaplain of a major Jesuit University is more ignorant of Scripture than a semi-involved Catholic layman. For there is something very wrong with men dressing as women, and vice versa, and it is related to God’s abhorence of homosexual acts. It is also related to the fact that such dress violates the natural law created by God for men and women to operate within. When we try to step outside that law, pain and misery usually result. In essence, the Seattle U chaplain is approving of a serious sin specifically decried in Scripture.
“To be Catholic at Seattle University means to be inclusive.” This is modernism defined – indifferent and ordered towards pleasing men and not God. Scripture and the Truth Christ has revealed through His Church are infinitely fungible depending on the mores of the world at any given moment. There is no ‘truth,’ it’s all simply what feels good to an individual. And the only grave sin to the modern left-liberal is to deny someone’s ability to ‘express themselves’ sexually, in as bizaare and decadent a manner as they desire. It is literally the fulfillment of Aldous Huxley’s vision.
This priest is called to uphold the Faith and save souls. Based on this utter abrogation of responsibility, it appears he does neither. What a shame. The souls of those under his care, such as it is, will ultimately pay the price for his folly. As will he, unless he should convert.
Is college worth it for many people? May 19, 2011
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, foolishness, General Catholic, Society.comments closed
Another article today citing both the dismal job prospects of many recent college graduates, as well as the drop in average pay for recent college graduates. Even the New York Slimes is covering this topic. The article notes that degree type conferred is key:
The choice of major is quite important. Certain majors had better luck finding a job that required a college degree, according to an analysis by Andrew M. Sum, an economist at Northeastern University, of 2009 Labor Department data for college graduates under 25.
Young graduates who majored in education and teaching or engineering were most likely to find a job requiring a college degree, while area studies majors — those who majored in Latin American studies, for example — and humanities majors were least likely to do so. Among all recent education graduates, 71.1 percent were in jobs that required a college degree; of all area studies majors, the share was 44.7 percent.
Well, duh, there isn’t much demand for fields like raging feminist theory or central Asian erotic poetry. I believe the notion is spreading that, if one doesn’t want to pursue a field that truly requires a college education and has good job prospects upon graduating, college has become too expensive to pursue. The NYT claims that the average college graduate today leaves college with $20,000 in debt. I have heard higher figures, like $30k-$35k, and those are expected to balloon towards $50k within a few years. At private schools, many students are already leaving college with $100,000 in debt – like having a house payment for a small house, only, you have to pay it back in 5-10 years instead of 30.
The crux of the problem is the fact that the federal government has gotten involved, and is it does in nearly everything it touches, the government has severely messed college finance up. Through student loans and some grants, and due to an ideological outlook that says that having a college education is a fundamental right for every citizen, the federal government has created an enormous excess demand for college type education. In short, the government has created a bubble. And like all bubbles, eventually, it must burst, and there will be a follow-on collapse. How thorough this collapse will be will depend on many factors, but at some point people are going to realize that it does not make sense to invest tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in an education for many students. College will remain necessary and beneficial for those pursuing degrees in business, engineering, the hard sciences, and to a lesser extent, teaching (although even teaching is in its own bubble).
I think the noxious ideological climate on many college campuses is also playing a role in this growing resistance towards sending kids to college. Many parents have no interest in sending the child they put great love and effort into raising to an marxist infested playground where their children will come back hating all mom and dad hold dear. And then there is the collapse of moral standards at college campuses. I, for one, have a rather serious concern over the ‘hook up’ culture prevalent on virtual every college campus.
Maybe I’m being dumb. But contrary to my upbringing, I don’t know that it is a foregone conclusion that all of my kids will attend college. We’ll have to spend time with each of our children to see where there interests are and what they might want to do as an adult (idunno being the predominant response heretofore). Even if college does make sense for all of them, there are growing alternatives that may not require forking over $100k.
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