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Bishop Vasa demands oath of teachers rejecting modern errors March 1, 2013

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, episcopate, General Catholic, persecution, sadness, sexual depravity, sickness, Society, true leadership.
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Perhaps Jay Boyd can confirm, but I believe Bishop Vasa did this when he was Bishop of Baker, Oregon?  Anyways, kudos to Bishop Vasa, known as one of the most orthodox American bishops, for taking this small step to restore the Faith:

The Santa Rosa Catholic Diocese is requiring its 200 schoolteachers to sign an agreement affirming that “modern errors” such as contraception, abortion, homosexual marriage and euthanasia are “matters that gravely offend human dignity.”

The move is an effort by Bishop Robert Vasa to delineate specifically what it means for a Catholic-school teacher — whether Catholic or not — to be a “model of Catholic living” and to adhere to Catholic teaching.

That means means abiding by the Ten Commandments, going to church every Sunday and heeding God’s words in thought, deed and intentions, according to a private church document that is an “addendum” to language in the current teachers’ contract.

Naturally, there are a number of non-Catholic and even “Catholic” teachers who are upset at this decision.  Thus, the fruit of the massive failure to enforce discipline in almost every diocese of the world for decades:

But some teachers fear the addendum is an invasion of their private lives and a move toward imposing more rigid Catholic doctrine.

“Personally, it’s probably something that I can’t sign,” said a teacher at Cardinal Newman High School in Santa Rosa. …

The teacher, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions, said he has not made a final decision whether or not to sign the document.

“On my high moral days, I feel I absolutely won’t sign,” the teacher said. “And on my days that I think about my job, I think who will it affect if I don’t sign it.”

The teacher said he objects to the “whole idea that they want me to live their morals when it’s my personal life what I do outside of work.”

Keep in mind that Vasa was moved to one of the most liberal dioceses in America – Santa Rosa is the whine country north of San Francisco full of largely rich, spoiled leftists.  This is a pretty brave move. Even when he was first named as the new Bishop of Santa Rosa, the Californicators were claiming his orthodoxy wouldn’t play there. The original article is here, and unfortunately Bishop Vasa sort of falls down a bit towards the end.

Vasa said he would be “saddened” if teachers decided to quit or not sign a contract because of the addendum. But he said, “I would commend them for their integrity.“

Well, in a sense, perhaps, yes, at least they won’t lie and sign and continue to teach error to children, possibly leading them so astray their salvation is severely jeopardized, as data regarding kids who attend Catholic schools and especially universities reveal the faith of so many to be. But, at the same time, they are remaining in their sin.  And that cannot be commended. They should be reminded that the Truth Christ has revealed through His Church is not just “a truth” for Catholics, it is the One Truth, the One Word God has revealed through His Church when He Himself, in the 2nd Person of the Trinity, founded it.  He further strengthens and sustains it through the action of the 3rd Person, the Holy Spirit.  This is the issue of the Social Kingship of Jesus Christ in a nutshell – all must observe that Truth because it is universal, is oriented entirely to man’s good, and is the only way to salvation (Jn 14:6).  There is much merit to the belief that “error has no rights” – and those in error certainly have no right to teach Catholic school kids! But the wine sipping dope smoking hot tubbers of Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, and Humboldt counties don’t want to hear about that.  “You’re harshing my mellow, man…..”

Make sure to read the comments, if you want a feel for how much hatred is being stirred up in the culture against the Church. It is, of course, crazy California, but I see similar comments on almost every secular news site that covers the Church.  We have a wicked persecution brewing. And the media has played an enormous role in bringing it to fruition. I can’t help but thinking that so many people are growing in hatred for the Church because they can stand that She tells them – even if only occasionally, even with the muted voices of today – the sexual sins almost every person in this country has fallen into to one degree or another are wrong.

I pray that ALL of our bishops will institute such oaths, and not just for teachers!  For every diocesan employee and volunteer, at least those in ANY way involved in sharing, transmitting, or teaching the Faith. Why do we not have such a very minimal requirement here in Dallas?  Is it really too much to expect Catholic school teachers, RCIA instructors, CCD people, etc., to truly accept AND practice the Faith not only at Church but in every aspect of their lives?  I know……I’m just a crazy rad-trad, no one should listen to me.

 

Prayers for the Conclave/new Pope March 1, 2013

Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, Dallas Diocese, episcopate, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, Novenas, Papa, Tradition, Virtue.
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Here are some options to pray for the upcoming Papal Conclave and new Pope.  I got sent the below from a friend and fellow parishioner, it’s sort of FSSP, I think?

prayer2Click on it to see it bigger.

Then the SSPX is recommending the below hymn as a Novena, coupled with a prayer like the one above – all taken from Rorate:

This is then followed by the above prayer, or something very similar.

I so love that hymn!  Text at the Rorate linka.

 

 

 

 

More on Trojan Horse in the Catholic Bedroom March 1, 2013

Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, awesomeness, Basics, contraception, Dallas Diocese, Domestic Church, episcopate, error, family, General Catholic, scandals, secularism, self-serving, Society.
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Since I think this is such an important book, I wanted to give some additional coverage to Dr. Jay Boyd’s Natural Family Planning: Trojan Horse in the Catholic Bedroom?  First, there is a Kindle edition available here.

Secondly, Dr. Boyd posted an excerpt from her book containing the conclusion here.  I’m posting it below, with some additional comments, because I’m so very important I know you want to hear what I have to say on everything!  Before I get to that, though, I must point out that this book is not some cut and paste argument from other sources, a thin little book produced as a whim by a blogger. This is a serious scholarly study, running 266 pages, with copious evidence from Magisterial documents and tracing the long line of Catholic Tradition on this critical subject. It is a very serious contribution to the field of moral theology, and one that I think is both long overdue and badly needed, given the countervaling representations of NFP being made in the public.  The conclusion:

Marriage is intended to be fruitful; God said so Himself! God’s plan for the sanctification of the married couple includes their cooperation with God in procreating new souls destined for Heaven. NFP doesn’t explicitly fly in the face of such an understanding, but it is dramatically not submissive to God. NFP is all about a degree of control that is objectionable in any traditional Catholic understanding of marriage or Catholic spirituality in general.
NFP promoters attempt to elevate non-abstinence (that is, the circumvention of the need to abstain from the marital embrace) to the level of a virtue, achieved by gaining knowledge of God’s designs so as to frustrate them. In other words, NFP promoters see the marital act as having “unitive” value that trumps its procreative value; therefore, engaging in marital intimacy when there is no risk of pregnancy is considered good in and of itself. [So true. One of the major errors regarding marriage that has become widespread over the past few decades is that the primary end of the marital act is it’s unitive aspect, the bringing the couple closer together. This is a false claim that flies in the face of numerous Magisterial statements, even though Humanae Vitae is not nearly so clear or strong on this subject as it should be.  But Casti Connubi, Pius XII’s allocution to the Italian midwives, and numerous Magisterial statements dating back to the earliest Church fathers all condemn actions on the part of couples to frustrate the natural end of the marriage act – procreation. There can be very grave reasons for permitting that frustration for limited periods of time, but it should never be done “de rigeur” or as a way to merely make the arrival of children more convenient – if they are permitted to arrive at all.]
But sex is not an end in itself. To long for sexual pleasure but seek to avoid its consequences is, objectively, concupiscence seeking a remedy. Certainly we would say this of an unmarried couple (it’s called “fornication”). The traditional understanding of marriage is threefold: 1) the procreation and education of children; 2) mutual care and support for the married couple in their journey to Heaven; and 3) a remedy for concupiscence. And once upon a time, people actually got married first and then realized those ends. Nowadays, people seek the “remedy for concupiscence” (i.e., sex) first, and only afterwards mightconsider the other two ends. In the past, some couples probably got married primarily as a remedy for concupiscence, knowing that indulging their sexual appetites might lead to pregnancy; today we have a Pill to take care of the anxiety about the possibility of pregnancy, and many consider that license to satisfy their sexual appetites outside of marriage.
……It seems silly to claim that one is “open to children” when one is organizing one’s life around having sex not likely to be fruitful! The NFP “way of life,” when not practiced to achieve pregnancy, is all about sterile sex – sex that is meant only to make the couple feel good, with no consequences attached to that pleasure. The “background music” of the NFP way of life is always about sexual intimacy: “when we can, when we should, when we can’t, and when we shouldn’t”……….
….Couples marry today with certain expectations about both marriage and sex shaped by public media. Sex is supposed to be “good” with a “good partner” and “personally satisfying”; in other words, sex is “all about the couple” – a variation on the theme of “it’s all about me”.

People enter marriage today with a culturally-conditioned expectation that “sex is like what I’ve seen in the movies” – which is to say it looks really great, and fun, and exciting! The NFP ideology (and that is what it is) does little to teach the true meaning of marriage, sex, or chastity, but is an unwitting participant in the unchaste sexuality that is rampant in our culture. To teach engaged couples about “family planning” of any kind is conceding that “family planning” (a.k.a., birth control) is a presumed need and value in today’s Catholic marriages. [Which is very true – much of the argument supporting NFP starts with worldly preconceptions (e.g., sex is a good in itself, sex is a primal urge that cannot be resisted, “everyone is doing it,” etc) and attempts to apply them to the Faith, trying to “Christianize” what is often libertine sexuality – like the popular presentations on so-called theology of the body, which often do exactly the same thing.  The problem is, many of these worldly assumptions are partly or totally antithetical to the Faith, and so their integration will be at best problematic, and at worst destructive and doomed to failure]
Certainly, today, the Church is failing badly in this area. Part of the reason for that stems from the 1960’s Church taking seriously the warnings from secular “experts” that the world was becoming overpopulated. Birth control was cautiously embraced because Church leaders didn’t recognize the errors in the overpopulation argument. The apparent needs of the temporal world loomed larger than the spiritual needs of parents that are met through generous parenthood providentially orchestrated by God. It seems as though, for a brief moment, Church leaders wondered if God maybe needed a little help in controlling population: hence, the concept of “responsible” parenthood, and the subtle movement from condoning periodic abstinence in certain serious situations to the idea that couples should rely on their own consciences to determine when to conceive a child……..
————————End Quote———————-
Well, that last bit, it’s critical and numerous volumes have been, and will be, written on that subject alone. For it goes far beyond the Church’s approach to the marital act and concerns over the totally false overpopulation scare, and touches on all the novelties that were introduced at Vatican II.  That last line there, pulls in the aspect of the “spirit of Vatican II” that traditional/conservative type Catholics find probably the most problematic idea of all, the idea that individual conscience, no matter how malformed, no matter how distant from Catholic belief and practice, is always inviolate, is always supreme, and can never be made – or even asked! –  to submit to the Authority of the Church. From that radical, rationalist, enlightenment idea, flows all the rivers of progressive thought on sexuality, contraception, marriage, and many other things besides.  In fact, the “promise” of being able to contracept and/or abort with abandon and “in good conscience” was one of the major selling points the progressives used to gain acceptance from a skeptical laity for their whole program, and they knew that using sex as an enticement was key – Muggeridge covers this extensively in her book.  The progressives/radicals intentionally “sold” a libertine, worldly vision of sexuality to the laity, and it worked like a charm in bringing people to accept many other radical changes they had been formed and raised to reject.
This post is too long, already, so maybe I’ll write my own book one day on how all this came down, how Catholics who overwhelmingly accepted Church Doctine on marriage in contraception in 1960 came to overwhelming reject it by 1970 – including Humanae Vitae, which is problematic in its own right.  But this is enough for now.  Dr. Boyd’s book looks very interesting, I’ll have to check it out.

How to obtain a plenary indulgence when the Sede is vacante March 1, 2013

Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, Interior Life, North Deanery, Papa, sadness, sanctity, Virtue.
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Fr. Z had a post on this, but in a nutshell, instead of praying for the intentions of the Holy Father, since we don’t have one at present, say:

“For the intentions that Benedict XVI designated for the month of March, let us say together……”

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

In the event this vacancy persists into April, just change the month in the above.

See more here.

Remember, First Friday at the Carmelites tonight!

Friday Non Sequitur March 1, 2013

Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, asshatery, fun, General Catholic, non squitur, scandals, silliness, Society.
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A guy parachutes out of the bomb bay of a Collings Foundation B-17G.  Why?  I have no idea, but it’s an unusual photo:

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I really like this pic, US Navy, circa 1986.  USS ENTERPRISE  (CVN-65) in company of USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) off the West Coast.  The giant ‘E’ on the island of ENTERPRISE is not symbolic of it’s nickname, “Big E,” it’s the Battle ‘E’ award for battle efficiency.  ENTERPRISE won the award many, many times. She, like MIDWAY (CV-41), was always an especially gifted ship:

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Joe Biden once again proves what a blittering idiot he is.  And I am being charitable in saying that, because in reality, he’s sub-moronic.  Firing shotguns blindly through your door, that’s the way to defend your home.  And most people can handle the very powerful kick of a shotgun better than the very mild kick of the 5.56 NATO round used in AR-15s, apparently.  This video provides some contradictory evidence: