Fr. George David Byers exposes grave problems in the burgeoning priest abuse industry May 23, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in disaster, episcopate, General Catholic, Holy suffering, horror, Papa, persecution, priests, sadness, scandals, sickness.comments closed
And I don’t mean SNAP and the plaintiff lawyers making killings off their 50% contingency fees and out of court settlements. I mean those within the Church who are creating little empires around the amoral VIRTUS “safe conduct” program, the priest treatment centers, etc. The posts are long and detailed – I won’t quote anything, but provide a few links from Fr. George David Byers site:
“The Judas Crisis” – investigates whether former vicar general of the Diocese of Manchester, NH, played a key role in the possibly false conviction of Fr. Gordon MacRae. MacRae has vehemently protested his complete innocence. He has provided much data to support his claims. He may well have a retrial in his case, and many think his conviction will be overturned because of massive credibility problems on the part of the prosecution’s star witness, as well as prosecutorial malfeasance to get a high profile conviction. But most important of all is how Msgr. Edward Arsenault, former vicar general and now head of a priest rehabilitation facility, may have been instrumental in throwing Fr. MacRae under the bus – and treating other priests accused of abuse the same way. Even though both Fr. Arsenault and Bishop John McCormack knew the accusers were lying. Incredibly, Arsenault recommended Bishop McCormack pursue forced laicization against a priest he knew, or strongly suspected, was completely innocent. But, most chillingly of all, read Fr. Byer’s investigations into the plaintiff settlements the Diocese of Manchester was negotiating all the while they were promising to support MacRae’s appeal.
“Kill the priest Kill the priest” – looks at a colleague of Fr. Arsenault’s colleague Fr. Stephen Rosetti, and his involvement in the creation of a perpetual self-flagellating “priest rehabilitation industry.” Fr. Rosetti seems to believe that there have been no, or essentially no, false allegations against priests (which is not slightly true).
Bishop takes pawn – journalist Ryan MacDonald shows how the Diocese of Manchester has repeatedly on Fr. MacRae’s Canon Law and constitutional rights
It’s a sordid, sordid tale. The Boston Virus has spread its sickening tentacles wide
Planned Barrenhood unleashes National Self-Gratification Month May 23, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, contraception, disaster, General Catholic, horror, sadness, scandals, sickness, Society, unadulterated evil.comments closed
How gauche. If you are under 18 or have a properly delicate conscience, like I wish I had, stop reading now.
There was a time, not long ago, when masturbation was recognized as an unhealthy activity. Yes, there were the silly scare stories of going blind, cross-eyed, hairy palms, etc., but the reality was known – that an inordinate self-love would lead to the the kind of abuse of ourselves that is present in this form of self-gratification. But, by the mid-80s at least, it was trivalized and treated as something “everyone did.” From that, to today’s multi-billion dollar national porn addiction, was not a very long walk.
Now, Planned Barrenhood, always seeking to debase the wholesome gift of sexuality God has given us, and thus drum up new clientele for its abortion business, is unleashing a “masturbate-a-thon”
Florida Planned Parenthood affiliate has taken the opportunity of “National Masturbation Month” to highlight the national organization’s promotion of masturbation as part of a “a common and safe kind of sex play” with “many health benefits.”
On Friday, Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida tweeted, “Happy Masturbation Month! We’ve got lots of info on masturbation here,” providing a link to Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s page on masturbation.
There, Planned Parenthood states that “there are many harmful myths about masturbation that may cause us to feel uncomfortable about it. These myths can cause guilt, shame, and fear. Let’s get the facts straight. Masturbation is a natural and common activity for both women and men.”
“National Masturbation Month” was first announced in 1995 by the San Francisco-based sex-toy shop Good Vibrations. The month-long celebration includes the annual “Masturbate-a-Thon” to raise funds for sex education. Individuals participate in competitions, either by webcam or in person, based on “longest duration spent masturbating and most orgasms.”
Jim Sedlak of Stop Planned Parenthood (STOPP), a project of the American Life League, said that endorsing the “gateway drug” of masturbation was of a piece with Planned Parenthood’s ideology on sex education.
“Planned Parenthood is an organization that makes its money from people involved in sex,” Sedlak told LifeSiteNews.com in an email. “Although Planned Parenthood pushes masturbation for all, it particularly targets young people with the message. It is a way to get these young kids involved in a sexual lifestyle.”
Once you’ve convinced kids that masturbation is fine, it’s not very far to get them interested in full-blown coitus and other activities. After all, once that sexual desire is prematurely turned on, it’s going to seek its natural outlet. And kids being kids, and contraception being prone to failure, you’ll soon have panicky 15 year olds seeking an abortion, or angry parents driving their 18 year old in for an abortion before the fall semester starts at SMU. It’s all of a piece. It’s immoral. It’s degenerate. It’s perfectly Planned Barrenhood.
Evangelical converts after revelation of evil of contraception May 23, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, Basics, contraception.comments closed
Sarah Nelson, 22, was going through a challenging chapter in her faith journey in 2001 as she served in leadership at a successful megachurch in Denver, Colorado. She and her fiancee Brandon loved their church and the fellowship it provided, but Sarah could not shake off the feeling there was something missing.
At her Christian church, one thing that was impressed upon her was that abortion was wrong. For as long as she can remember, Sarah had always considered herself “very pro-life and absolutely against abortion.”
One day, while praying for an end to abortion on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade which legalized the killing of babies in the womb in 1973, Sarah suddenly experienced the voice of God saying to her:
You have the spirit of abortion.
The young woman remembers being stunned. ‘How could this accusation be true,’ she remembers reasoning vehemently with God, when she was clearly against the horrible crime of ending an innocent life in a mother’s womb?
Again, Sarah experienced the convicting voice of God:
You have the spirit of abortion in you because you do not value children as you ought. You see them as a burden and something that would inconvenience your life. [Boy, ain’t that how so many seem to view children nowadays]
As Sarah pondered the word she had received, it dawned on her that God was entirely right. She had believed that it was wrong to kill children through abortion, but she now realized that a deeply rooted contraceptive mentality within her had prejudiced her to not really value children or to even desire them.
“Up to that point, I had had no exposure to the perspective of contraception as a moral evil,” Sarah told LifeSiteNews. “Growing up, I was extremely familiar with the fact that as couples were counseled for marriage in church, it was the assumption across the board that to be a ‘prudent newly wed couple’, you must contracept, and preferably for at least two years in order to establish a ‘stable marriage’.”
“Rarely were children talked about in terms of ‘abundance and overflowing joy’. In some circles it was strongly suggested that couples limit their family size for the good of God. Many couples saw two children as plenty.”
“I was not really open to having children, nor had I been encouraged to be so from my church leadership. From this flowed the natural conclusion that contraception was fine. And if contraception was fine, then I could see how the logic worked that allowed abortion (God forbid) to be fine because it got rid of an ‘inconvenience’”.
“I was horrified as I suddenly and instantly knew the horrible truth: being closed to life through contraception actually leads to the reality and horror of abortion.”
It was with sadness that Sarah realized that she had become a victim of the logic of contraception without even realizing it. “And sadly, this was where I had been up till that day,” she recounted.
As a consequence of her humbling experience with God, Sarah turned to the Catholic Church for answers and eventually became Catholic along with her now-husband Brandon. They now have two children and are hoping for more.
Support for contraception is the achilles heel of the pro-life movement. So long as we tolerate or ignore contraception, abortion on demand will remain a reality in this country. But, I also think contraception is a potential vehicle for large-scale conversions into the Church from pro-life evangelicals. I don’t know how this woman was reached – whether it was her internal forum or a touch of Grace, but, irrespective, once she understood that contraception was evil, she ran to the Catholic Church. There is virtually nowhere else for her to go, once she made that realization.
Contraception is also the moral achilles heel of many evangelical sects – they are wedded to it. If we can, as a Church, really start to evangelize the reality of the nature of contraception, I think many, many souls could be brought into the Church. We may lose a whole bunch in the process, but perhaps that is the kind of sifting the Church needs to undergo – an influx of devout, Scripture-literate evangelicals and an outflux of semi-pagan, Bible-illiterate and practical mainline liberal protestant ‘Catholics’. I don’t want anyone to leave! But, that could be the practical effect.
This only heightens the importance that our leadership – and us lay people! – make the most of this Obama HHS contraception mandate issue. This could be a wonderful opportunity to catechize the culture, but the bishops are avoiding the contraception angle like the plague. That’s really sad, because I think the Church’s message, presented thoughtfully, with charity, but with conviction, could move many, many souls.
Not that I’m holding my breath.
Rally for Rights of the Church Friday, June 8 May 23, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, episcopate, General Catholic, Holy suffering, persecution, scandals, sickness, Society.comments closed
It’s actually the Rally for Religious Freedom, but I like being cantankerous. It’s at noon on Friday, June 8th at Dallas City Hall. You can monitor for updates and sign up at this Facebook page, here.
I would say I hope to be there, but I’m convinced that by doing so I’ve been jinxing myself of late, so I’ll just say……….
A commenter reacts to my post on deficiency of love May 23, 2012
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, error, Eucharist, General Catholic, Interior Life, Sacraments, sadness, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
I was inspired by reading a portion of St. Peter Julian Eymard’s Eucharistic Handbook to lament my own lack of charity in a post yesterday. We all lack charity, every one of us. Unless there is a Saint reading my blog (pray for me!)…..and even then, many Saints felt their own inadequate return of love to God.
A commenter disagreed with my lament:
You are made in the likeness of God and God is love. Love yourself first and the love of God is simultaneous. You are a perfect creature only in that you were molded by a perfect hand. You don’t need to beg forgiveness for anything. Forgive yourself and live. A joyous day awaits you.
My reply:
Thank you for providing the modernist view. The Saints did not feel the same. They knew that taking up their cross and following Jesus entailed dying to self and radical transformation through the Grace that flows from Christ’s Sacrifice.This does not mean we should be scrupulous and fret over everything, but it does mean we should constantly examine our consciences, find our faults, and work to remove them, which can only be accomplished through cooperation with Grace.
We are made by a perfect and loving God, but Original Sin, and our own actual sin, has so disfigured us that we no longer resemble the Creator. That is why we must be transformed through Grace, and Grace depends on our repentance of the sins we’ve committed and changing our behaviors so that we do not commit future sins. If we are “perfect,” why did Christ die for us? Why do we need salvation? Why did St. Paul state that we must put away the old man, and put on the new (Eph 4:22-24)? Why did he lament that, even with his obviously tremendous cooperation with Grace, he still had temptation to sin and imperfections?
The views you present, very common and popular today (especially in new age circles), are, frankly, outside the belief of the Church. It’s an immanentist view that God resides in each person, and thus each person is perfect and “god-like.” This is a disfigurement of Catholic theology – God does reside in us – when we are in a state of grace. But He only resides in us in that state, and only to the degree that we cooperate with His Will. And that cooperation is keyed on dying to our selves and our selfish, sinful desires and notions. The more we die to ourselves and conform ourselves to the perfect example given by Christ, the more God will dwell in our souls and work even further transformation. But the work, in this life, is never complete.
I would also add that many – perhaps most – modern day sins are caused not by a deficiency of self-love, but by an excess of it. Abortion, greed, corruption, graft, disordered appetites (concupiscences), lust, porn, the use of contraception – all stem from an excess of self-love and a deficiency of love for God and our brethren. Christ came not to call the just, but sinners. But the reality is – we are all sinners. Every last one of us. Thus, we all need the saving Grace of Christ that flows into His Church through the Sacraments (primarily).
And the great Sacraments that sustain us in our day to day existence are Confession and the Eucharist. They are presented in the order in which we must receive them, for we must be free from mortal sin when we receive the Blessed Sacrament, thus we must receive Sacramental Confession regularly. Even if we have no mortal sin to confess, regular Confession is incredibly important to advance in the interior life, to make one aware of the faults and imperfections one possesses.
You should start reading The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. It’s available free online.
After that, I strongly suggest reading the Autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila. It’s a bit heavy, but provides a fantastic exegesis on our need for Transformation in Christ (von Hildebrand).
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