New Zealand bishop pummelled for promoting Church Dogma on……sodomy May 19, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, disaster, episcopate, foolishness, General Catholic, Holy suffering, persecution, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, sickness, Society.comments closed
Could it be about any other point of Doctrine at this point in time? Is it just me, or does it seem like this affliction – which is tragic and horrific, but affects only a minuscule portion of the public – is becoming a very small tail wagging a very, very large dog?
A New Zealand bishop is under heavy fire for promoting a documentary that counsels those who have temptations towards same-sex attraction to <gasp!> lead chaste lives, and which even shows those doing so reporting how much happier and more fulfilled they are. It’s like 2000 years of rock-solid belief and practice on chastity and the marital act just suddenly fell from the sky for most people, like being chaste is something just utterly unheard of:
An Auckland bishop is under fire for promoting a controversial American Catholic documentary about gay and lesbian worshipers, which some say is offensive and outdated.
The Third Way features gay and lesbian worshippers describing how their anguish ended when they abstained from sex and embraced the Catholic religion.
Trevor Easton, a gay community advocate, says he finds the church’s message offensive in this day and age.
“I saw it as making people feel uncomfortable, unloved, not able to be themselves.” [More on that below]
Auckland’s Catholic bishop, Patrick Dunn, says the film is thought-provoking and reportedly wants to use it as part of church teaching here.
“Jesus holds up the ideal of a relationship between a man and a woman,” he says in a statement.
I am so exhausted with the special pleading of this particular group of sinners – of which I certainly do not excuse myself in the slightest – demanding that churches in general and the Church in particular no longer view their particular sin as such. It is exactly like adulterers, fornicators, thieves, drunkards, or any other group of sinner demanding the same. I have written extensively in the past regarding the close similarities I see between those lost in sexual sins, especially sins of gross perversion like sodomy, and drug addiction. The behaviors are virtually identical and equally self-destructive (and there is much cross-over between drug addicts and those lost in these sexual sins, because the root sin – intemperance – is the same).
But drug addicts, thieves, and others have not managed to band together into an omni-present, domineering, exceedingly well-funded and endlessly vicious cabal that demands that the Church (and many other religions) actually change 2000+ years of belief in order to keep their endlessly delicate sensibilities from being offended! Many nominally Christian sects have already fallen to this pressure, which is magnified beyond all reason by the gleeful assistance of the Church-hating left wing media and the sodomite cabal’s enormous financial resources.
What this Bishop Dunn has done is actually a profound act of charity, and for that, in the present climate, he is being pilloried. Today it is a bishop, tomorrow it will be priests and laity. This cabal will not be satisfied with anything less than complete surrender. No, they will demand more than that, they will demand fawning apologias and heart-rending mea culpa’s from those who dare to adhere to the ancient, unchanging Truth.
The ride will only get rougher. Pray for the conversion of these poor souls, but also pray that you remain faithful and do not fall to the growing persecution.
Or, at least, that’s what I’ll be praying for.
UPDATE: I should add, I haven’t seen this film in question and don’t know how well it really represents Catholic belief. Judging from the comments above, it seems to give a pretty orthodox view regarding acts associated with the sexual faculties and encourages chastity for all (all Catholics being called to chastity). It could possibly go off in some goofy territory (if anyone has knowledge and wants to advise, that would be great), but on the data provided it does not seem like it should be objectionable to Catholics. Amazingly, church-goers quoted in the article (see the link) actually defended Church Doctrine, which is rare to find in a mass media outlet. Usually they only quote disaffected/heretical “Catholics.”
Reader request – book of Saint’s writings for each day of the year? May 19, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, Basics, Dallas Diocese, General Catholic, reading, Saints, sanctity.comments closed
A reader asked me if I knew of any book that contained a compendium of the writings of different Saints for each day of the year. Both the reader and I are aware of many books that give a biography of a Saint for each day of the year, but these rarely if ever contain any actual writings by different Saints.
One book I had in mind was Fr. Hardon’s Treasury of Catholic Wisdom, which has writings from many different Saints but it is not a day-by-day reader. The Breviary has some writings by Saints on many days, but that again is not quite what is being requested.
Anyone have any ideas? To be clear, what is desired is a book that each day contains some writings by a different Saint. Very much like Fr. Alban Butler’s Lives of the Saints, but instead of talking about them, the book would contain their writings.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks and God bless!
Pray the Divine Office! May 19, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Interior Life, Latin Mass, Liturgy, sanctity, Tradition, Virtue.comments closed
I have at times done a number of posts containing material straight out of Divine Intimacy by Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen OCD, but I started getting the impression many readers were already ahead of me, reading that great book on their own. So, I haven’t posted any material from Divine Intimacy for a while. But I read the exhortation to pray the Divine Office on Saturday, and thought, this is important enough to share with everyone, even if they’ve already seen it!
So, hopefully I am not being boring or repetitive, but I cannot recommend praying the Divine Office (or Breviary) enough, it is such an amazing treasure lay people should strive to pray at least some of the Hours like Vespers. Fr. Gabriel agrees:
The liturgy accompanies Holy Mass with the recitation of the Divine Office which, as Mediator Dei teaches, “is the prayer of the Mystical Body of Christ, addressed to God in the name of all Christians and for their benefit, by 
priests, other ministers of the Church, and religious, who are assigned this task.” The great dignity of the Divine Office lies in the fact that it is not a private prayer, but the official public prayer of the Mystical Body of Christ, whose members do not pray alone, but with Christ their Head……In the Divine Office, “Jesus prayers with us as our Priest; prays in us as our Head…Let us recognize then,” says St. Augustine, “our voice in His and His voice in us.” What a wonderful gift! Jesus, the Son of God, associates our poor, miserable prayers with His great precious Prayer.
Although the Divine Office is of obligation only for priests and religious who are charged with it by the Church, it can be said that it is the payer of the whole Christian people, in the sense that it is addressed to God “in their name and for their benefit.” It is therefore highly praiseworthy for the laity to try to participate in it in some way; for example, the recitation of Vespers on Feast days, as well as of Prime and Compline. [This is about what I do, not always Prime, but always Vespers and Compline, everyday. I sometimes have time to pray some of the long morning prayers, Matins and Lauds. I cannot tell you how efficacious these prayers are! Such a blessing.] Furthermore, they can offer to God at every hour of the day and night the great Prayer of the Church, for their own special intentions and individual needs. In this way they can make up for the deficiencies 
and the brevity of their own personal prayers. Even in the midst of daily occupations, each one can unite himself from time to time by pious aspirations with the “perpetual praise” which the Church sends up to God in the name of all Christians.
The Divine Office is made up, for the most part, of inspired texts taken from Holy Scripture. This is why we cannot find vocal prayers that are more beautiful and more suitable for praising the Divine Majesty’ in the inspired Word, the Holy Spirit Himself “asketh for us with unspeakable groanings” (Rom VIII:26). Then, too, these prayers are so rich in doctrine and unction that they help greatly to nourish our personal piety. All these reasons make us understand that “the interior devotion of our soul must correspond to the lofty dignity of this prayer” (Mediator Dei), in such a way that “our soul is in tune with our voice,” as St. Augustine says. Because the Divine Office is the prayer which the Church, together with Jesus, Her Head, sends up to God, and because it is inspired by the Holy Spirit, it has great value in itself; but it will have no value for us, so as to increase our union with God and to draw divine blessings down upon us, if it does not become our prayer, if we 
do not accompany it with our own personal devotion. In the society of the faithful, the Church prays with the heart of her children, with our heart; and the more fervent and full of love this heart is, the more our prayer, the Prayer of the Church, will be pleasing to God.
Even if the obligation to pray the Divine Office is not involved, and a few brief prayers only are taken from the Breviary, it is well for all interior souls to try to grasp the spirit of this liturgical prayer and to make it their own. It is a spirit of praise and adoration which desires to render to God perpetual worship in union with Christ and in the name of the whole Church, a spirit of solidarity with Jesus, our Head, and with all the faithful, our brethren; it is a universal spirit which embraces the needs of the entire world, and prays in the name of Christianity. How the horizons broaden now with the intentions of our prayers!
———–End Quote———–
I know the new print edition of the Breviary is expensive, but it is worth every penny. It is not without fault, but is still an incredible treasure.
There are, of course, sites online that offer the Traditional Breviary, some of which are app-based for smart phones and others of which require a subscription fee for general online use. I really love the printed word, so I am willing to pay for the privilege of having a proper book, but for those not so inclined you can find the traditional Breviary online. 
Either way, it is a most commendable act to try to pray at least some of the Office daily. I think that if you do, you will find it reaps rich spiritual fruit. It is, after all, the prayer of so many Saints! The Divine Office connects you directly to the timeless public prayer of the Church! It is a gift beyond measure.
Final note: I cannot recommend praying the post-Vatican II “Liturgy of the Hours.” It is a really deficient set, the prayers are abysmal, many of them were composed by non-Catholic liturgical “advisors,” the whole flow of the Office has been butchered – it is a mess. I used to pray the Novus Ordo Hours before finding the Traditional Mass, but I would strongly recommend people just go straight to using the traditional Breviary. It is so much more efficacious and so much more closely tied to the traditional flow of the liturgical year. It is simply far, far superior, as Dom Mark Kirby noted some time back.
Fewer than 5% of British Catholics “faithful” May 19, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, disaster, Ecumenism, episcopate, error, foolishness, General Catholic, sadness, scandals, secularism, self-serving, Society.comments closed
In a broader post that had the point that Catholics should not engage in schadenfreude as they watch the advancing collapse of the Anglican Communion (because, we aren’t in such great shakes ourselves, and in many respects are just a few decades behind the Anglicans in terms of collapse), there were some details shared about the degree to which British Catholics accept the Faith, or are faithful, that were simply stunning. We’ve heard this data before, but what I’m about to share represents a calamity of the highest magnitude and something that should bring total focus and interest from all Church leaders (of course, it won’t, and all emphasis in original):
Dr. Woodhead has determined that “faithful Catholics” in the U.K. are now “a rare and endangered species” (Religion Dispatches, Nov. 24, 2013). Defined as those who attend weekly Mass, profess certain belief in God, take authority from religious sources, and are opposed to abortion, same-sex marriage, and euthanasia, a mere five percent of British Catholics can be called “faithful.” That figure drops to two percent for British Catholics under the age of 30. Startlingly, Dr. Woodhead found that zero percent of British Catholics “look to religious leaders for guidance as they make decisions and live their lives.”
The problem, as Woodhead sees it, is that “most Catholics don’t think the [Church’s moral] teaching is too hard, they think it’s wrong” (italics in original). This would suggest that dressing up existing doctrines — especially those related to marriage and sexuality — to make them more appealing, or dispensing with them altogether, will have little to no effect. The recent history of the Anglican Communion is a case in point: It is endlessly refashioning itself in order to achieve “relevance” by shedding virtually every one of its distinctively Christian moral teachings — and with disastrous results.
Similar numbers apply here in the States. In fact, I recall seeing a number that was more like 3% at some point in the past few years, but I can’t recall where. If true, instead of “70 million American Catholics” we are told of, there would be more like 2 million really faithful, practicing Catholics. Suddenly, the Church doesn’t look so much better than 1 million Episcopalians, does it?
As for “zero percent” looking to religious leaders for guidance – could this ludicrous number be so low, perhaps, because even faithful Catholics have grave doubts as to whether much of their leadership is worthy of leading them?
I was talking with my parents yesterday (thanks for the great dinner), and they were relating how their church, one of the first former Episcopalian churches to split off from Episcopalianism over the Vicki Gene Robinson affair (and other matters), has changed its “allegiance” again, and they aren’t even sure if they are part of the Anglican Communion anymore. This is because the Anglican Church, as I told them, is about to embrace those same things that drove them out of Episcopalianism in the first place: homosexual bishops, female bishops, acceptance of same-sex marriage, etc. The whole “Anglican Church as refuge” strategy is about played out, as the mother church embraces the errors of the periphery.
But as I was saying all this, I was much less assured of my own Catholic position as a bastion of adherence to Dogma than I would have been, say, 15 months ago. I feel the ground shifting beneath my feet.
But as the quote shows, the more a church or sect prostrates itself at the feet of the culture, shucking age-0ld beliefs and trying to reconcile those beliefs to the errors of the world, the less credibility it has and the less relevance not just that church itself, but religious belief in toto has for more and more people in that culture. It seems to secular people that churches are weak, inconstant, and obviously not possessed of the truth they claim to have. So why bother? And the same message is picked up by adherents of that church……..if the Mass can be changed, what can’t (for instance)?
And so we get what we have now.
I don’t know how we get out of this, but I do know it involves us becoming Saints. So maybe I should blog more on that, and less on all the markers of decline.
Heartbreaking – a Catholic’s story of conversion to islam May 19, 2014
Posted by Tantumblogo in Basics, catachesis, disaster, episcopate, error, foolishness, General Catholic, sadness, scandals, secularism, Society, the return.comments closed
Uff da watching this hurt, a lot. The video below tells the story of a Catholic, ostensibly disaffected by the priest boy-rape nightmare, who converted to islam. I do not know why they call her “Sr.” Christine, I pray God that does not mean she had a religious vocation and left even that to follow this false, satanic religion (for, as St. Paul says, all the false gods of the gentiles are demons).
Some things I noted from this conversion story: I hear very little talk of transcendence, of a really deep and profound spiritual connection with God, and I note that her rejection of the Trinity seems rather forced and weak. She seems to have fallen into islam over mostly human or natural elements – the feeling of community she felt during Ramadan, the “strong horse” phenomenon of islam seeming very vibrant and aggressive right now, and all the external, worldly trappings of islam. She comes across as yet another of the millions of souls who felt utterly spiritually starved in newAmchurch, was scandalized to death by the abject failure of ecclesiastical discipline, and so cast about desperately trying to find something that would give her that spiritual sustenance she craved, and fell into islam.
She is thus like tens of millions of other Catholics who have left the Faith in the wake of the revolution in the Church and all the destruction that has followed.
Which brings me to my next video, in which Michael Voris pounds mercilessly on the failures of the hierarchy in the Church over these past 5 decades. It was almost a bit too hard for me, which is saying something, so some of you folks may be put off by it, but I found it somewhat providential that I found these two videos almost one right after the other, and the two subjects seem to be closely related:
I do want to add one further comment on this video. The collapse in Church discipline and the whole estrangement of so much of the leadership of the Church from the traditional practice of the Faith has been a matter dependent, at the very least tacitly, on the connivance, if you will, of the Holy See. Yes, we have had many, many bad, derelict bishops, but who has nominated and approved them in their sees? Who left them in their dioceses as scandal piled on scandal?
I know Michael V. has been very reticent to extend his criticism of the crisis in the Church to the highest level of authority for mostly tactical reasons. That is his right, but I do not feel quite so constrained, and I think we have to recognize this collapse in local authority has only come about due to a collapse in the global exercise of authority. And all of that collapse results in millions of stories like the former Catholic muslim girl, millions of tragedies afflicting real lives and leading people horribly astray, choosing false religions and worldly recompense over the Pearl of great price. Each one of these stories shows us a soul in the direst of straits, having left the One True Faith outside of which salvation is, at the very least, exceedingly difficult (and for many souls in this wicked culture, practically impossible).
Oh, what a terrible accounting there will be for all these lost souls! In our charity, we must pray for all bishops, but it would redound to our credit to give some special consideration for those bishops who have been complicit in all the destruction we see around us. That is not an easy thing. So many of us have been deeply scandalized by the actions of modernist bishops. But it is a necessary duty, in charity, to pray for their conversion in this life or the repose of the souls of those who have already departed this world.
It is so difficult for those who have left the Faith as adults to return! In fact, it constitutes a moral miracle.
Such a tragedy.
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