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Query – should we kiss priest’s hands August 16, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, Eucharist, General Catholic, North Deanery, priests.
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Priests hands are especially consecrated to God.  It was tradition for a very long time in the Church to kiss a priest’s hand on meeting him.  I don’t know if that practice was terribly common in this most individualistic country, but in many parts of the world it was rare.  I saw this photo on Orbis Catholicus, and it reminded me that I have struggled with this issue.  I’d frankly like to kiss a priest’s hand, and have once or twice, but I feel very self-conscious in trying to do so, so usually, I chicken out.  How do you feel?  Is this a practice that should return?  Would you do it?  Poll time, and I’ll try to keep it at the top for a day or so.

I know I have some priests that read this blog.  What do you think of this – too much clericalism, or a proper show of respect for the hands that Consecrate our Blessed Lord?

Dallas abortionist Curtis Boyd under investigation August 16, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, sadness, scandals, sickness, Society.
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The State of New Mexico has revealed that Dallas (and Albuquerque, NM) abortionist Curtis Boys is under investigation for numerous complaints arising from complications of botched abortions at his New Mexico facility, “Southwest Women’s Options.”  Boyd, of course, also operates Dallas’ own “Southwestern Women’s Surgery Center,”  used to operate Fairmount mill, and his protege Susan Robinson has also performed numerous abortions at both locales.  Earlier this year, Operation Rescue obtained 911 tapes through Freedom of Information requests, which contained the emergency calls placed by Southwest Women’s Options staff after botched abortions.   One such recorded call is below:

A seventeen year old with a spiking fever, profuse bleeding, and a pulse rate of 172 – lying down.  Horrific.  And yet we are told these abortionists are acting out of self-proclaimed compassion, trying to prevent women from “back alley abortions” and the damage they caused.  Well, you might say, that was just one case.  Surely this doesn’t happen very often.  You would be wrong:

“I don’t know what information he’s asking me.”  “Just act dumb.”  Surely, the mentality of individuals solely concerned with women’s health.

It appears all three “doctors” (remember do no harm?) affliliated with Boyd’s abortion operations are presently under investigation by the New Mexico Medical Board. 

You know, it’s amazing what can happen to doctors.  Back when I was in active addiction, I went to alot of doctors, for the purpose of obtaining relief from my “severe back pain.”  Invariably, I obtained such relief.  But without getting into too much detail, I can say that there were quack doctors around, guys with licenses and not too much conscience, who ran “practices” that were nothing but script mills for powerful psychoactives like hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, etc.   Unfortunately, it happens – some doctors have personal problems themselves, they were just never very good, they needed the money – whatever, but there are lots of physicians whose actions and motives are simply not very moral.  Hence, Boyd, and others like him.  I’m sure the script mill “physicians” justified to themselves that they were just helping people out, that they didn’t want people to suffer, just as abortion mill doctors don’t want women to suffer the trauma of the dreaded and feared “back alley abortion.”  It’s all a lie – the reason the script mill docs did what they did is the same reason abortionists do what they do – quick and easy money, and lots of it.  All the rest is simply an attempt to justify the unjustifiable.

So, it seems I was not alone on YouCat……. August 16, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, episcopate, foolishness, General Catholic, Interior Life, sadness, scandals.
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……it’s generally a bad idea to soften doctrinal approaches in order to try to appeal to a lower common denominator, IMO.  Several months ago, I blogged that I didn’t see a particular need for a sort of dumbed down, overly inculturated “youth catechism,” and that, to me, there were problems with the book.  I was told I was mistaken by a few, that YouCat was s great resource and I was wrong to criticise.  I was even given a copy by a very well meaning priest, who anticipated, I suppose, that I would read it and find it helpful and blog about that.  I’ve actually maintained my silence because I did read it, I found several problems right off the bat, but I didn’t want to seem to be picking yet another fight, so I let it go.  But now, others have come forth with even more problems.  There is even a petition circulating asking the Holy Father to recall this catechism, due to the errors.  Via the always helpful Colleen Hammond, this site also expounds on the problems with Youcat:

Objection #1: YOUCAT insinuates that The Holy Bible contains errors.

Objection #2: YOUCAT gives confusing catechesis on human sexuality and end of life issues.

Objection #3: YOUCAT alleges that Genesis does not give a true account of creation.

Objection #4: YOUCAT Places greater weight on modern scientific speculation than on the Church Fathers’ unanimous interpretations of the first chapters of Genesis.

Objection #5: YOUCAT teaches that God made an incomplete world filled with defects and deformities.

Objection #6: YOUCAT can give the impression that modern Catholic and non-Catholic authors are more important for young people to read than the Fathers and Doctors of the Church.

So, I’m not real big on Genesis and interpreting creation history, but regarding Objection 6, I have seen this in spades – the vast majority of quotes which fill the sidebars of Youcat and which are supposed to provide ‘color’ and ‘relevance’ to the doctrine espoused in the main parts, are from either non-Catholics or modern Catholics.  There are very few quotes from great Catholics of the past, be they Church Fathers or those incredibly brilliant and important Saints from the medieval and early modern periods.   I also agree that many of the quotes used are either vague, or don’t seem to support the Catholic Doctrine being taught.  A few actually seem to contradict the doctrinal message being conveyed.  Prudentially, I wonder why so many Germans and Austrians were chosen to make up the sidebar quotations – most people outside central Europe will have never heard any of those quoted.  It is incredible that Nietzche was quoted more than once – few have had a more profoundly negative impact on the Church than he.

Bottom line – I just don’t think YouCat is a very good source for catechesis – it has problems.  Yes, there are people in the Catholic press talking it up relentlessly, which tells me more about them, than the book.  I don’t recommend it.  I think there are much better sources of catechesis available – like Baltimore Catechism Vol’s One, Two and Three.

Noted apologist John Martignoni coming to St. Anthony Wylie August 16, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Interior Life, North Deanery.
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Noted Catholic apologist and EWTN personality John Martignoni will be holding a retreat at St. Anthony in Wylie on September 7-8.  I’ve heard Mr. Martignoni on EWTN many times, and he certainly knows Sacred Scripture, and being a convert to the Faith from protestantism, he has many interesting insights into Catholicism.  He’s definitely someone worth spending a couple of evenings with!  I believe the retreats start at 7pm, but the St. Anthony website at present has no details.  If I get more details, I’ll correct the post.

BTW, in researching for this post, I was surprised to see the level of vitriol directed not only at Mr. Martignoni, for having the audacity to come home to Catholicism, but at the Church, from very agitated protestants who maintain that the Catholic Church is the whore of babylon and the ultimate source of all error in the world. That’s odd, given that the only Christian Church for the first 1500 odd years (Orthodox being schismatic, not a different sect) was the Catholic Church, and since the wonder of protestantism came on the seen, it has since split into 40,000 sub-groups.  I think Jesus did pray at one point that He wished we would all be one (Jn 17:21).

The next push – “normalizing” pedophilia August 16, 2011

Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, Basics, Dallas Diocese, disaster, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, sadness, scandals, sickness, Society.
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It’s been argued here and many other places, that the unprecedented, deeply thought out and coordinated campaing to “normalize” homosexuality would lead to similar efforts for other areas of sexual perversion and taboo.  Given the incredible success of the homosexual normalization effort, should we now be surprised that the groundwork is being laid to now “normalize” pedophilia?

If a small group of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals have their way at a conference this week, pedophiles themselves could play a role in removing pedophilia from the American Psychiatric Association’s bible of mental illnesses — the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), set to undergo a significant revision by 2013.  Critics warn that their success could lead to the decriminalization of pedophilia.

The August 17 Baltimore conference is sponsored by B4U-ACT, a group of pro-pedophile mental health professionals and sympathetic activists. [one  must wonder what kind of mentality would be “pro-pedophile.”]  According to the conference brochure, the event will examine “ways in which minor-attracted persons [pedophiles] can be involved in the DSM 5 revision process” and how the popular perceptions of pedophiles can be reframed to encourage tolerance………….

Child advocate Dr. Judith Reisman, a visiting professor at Liberty University’s School of Law, said the conference is part of a strategy to condition people into accepting pedophiles……………

[a promoter of pedophilia ‘normalization,’ a university professor whose own predelictions one must wonder about, states] “Stop buying into and promoting false stereotypes. Stop demonizing a whole class of people, and start learning the facts”

Berlin has similarly compared society’s reaction to pedophilia to that of homosexuality prior to the landmark 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision that decriminalized sodomy.

B4U-ACT’s own website puts Berlin’s views front and center. “Just as has been the case historically with homosexuality,” he writes, “society is currently addressing the matter of pedophilia with a balance that is far more heavily weighted on the side of criminal justice solutions than on the side of mental health solutions.”

Sorry, I, for one, will always have a deep animosity towards those who molest, rape, or otherwise attack children, sexually or otherwise.  I will continue to “demonize” them.  I will say that they are sick, and need both separation from society to prevent their harming children, and treatment if such can be effective.  What the proponents of pedophile normalization conveniently forget to mention is that, to an even greater degree that homosexuality, pedophilia is a virtually untreatable condition.  The recidivism rate among pedophiles, even those who have served long prison terms, is incredibly high.  As a Mayo Clinic study of pedophile behavior stated: “No treatment for pedophilia is effective unless the pedophile is willing to engage in the treatment. Individuals can offend again while in active psychotherapy, while receiving pharmacologic treatment, and even after castration.”  This is why incarceration and, even after incarceration, enforced separation from children, is necessary.  I think I’ve made clear on this blog I don’t like to see the state involved in every aspect of people’s lives, but in the case of convicted pedophiles, the exception proves the rule – these people are dangerous and governments should take great steps to protect society from these predatory individuals.

What is outlined in the Daily Caller article above is precisely the formula used to promote the homosexual agenda in our society starting 40 years ago, and such promotion was aided and abetted by far leftists in the media, academia, and other influential institutions, who seek every possible means to undermine and ultimately destroy traditional Judeo-Christian morality.  Pedophilia is, simply put, a grave sickness of the soul, a perversion so great it does (and absolutely should) cause normal people, those not corrupted horribly by grave sin, revulsion.  But, 40 odd years ago, the culture viewed homosexuality in somewhat the same light (although pedophilia has always been a taboo more egregious than homosexuality).  Thanks to a committed, well orchestrated campaign of propaganda and our own fallen natures (sins against purity becoming so endemic in society at large), about half the population now views homosexual acts  no longer as offensive to both God and man, but as perfectly normal and acceptable.  40 years ago, many warned that the American Psychiatric Association’s “normalizing” of homosexuality would one day lead to efforts to “normalize” pedophilia, bestiality, etc.  That day is now.

Lord, please have mercy on us.  We are so very, very lost as a culture.  This is all related to porn and sexual license in the culture, and collapse of a Christian morality.  People immersed in their own sexual sins are less likely to be critical of the sins of others, no matter how offensive.  50 years of the “sexual revolution” has now brought us here: an active movement to de-criminalize the most offensive, heinous of behaviors, the stealing of a child’s innocence.  But, given a culture where many have no qualms whatsoever about taking an innocent child’s life, I guess we should not be surprised.

I think prayer is in order.

h/t culturewarnotes