The hand on the plough

Last night, we watched "Spirited Away" on DVD, and one of the lessons I explained to my kids was to finish what you've started. This from Kamaji telling Chihiro to do so after she had picked up a heavy piece of coal in order to rescue a sootball trapped underneath. Chihiro then proceeded as told, to bring the coal to the incinerator, completing what she had begun. Today's readings (oddly enough) say the same thing. The first reading (1 Kings 19:16 - 21) relates how Elijah appointed Elisha as an apprentice, and Elisha had first asked to go and say goodbye to his parents. The great prophet pointed out that he had to make a hard choice. In the second reading (Galatians 5:1 - 18), St. Paul exhorts us:

When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.

This, too, is about finishing what was started, in this case, what was started in us by baptism: our justification. As was the Lord's words in the Gospel reading (Luke 9:51 - 62):

‘Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God’.

Stories of cafeteria Catholicism or Christianity-lite in general are always sad. It's easy to fall into the trap of taking our calling for granted. That's why I do admire people such as Cardinal George Pell, Pope Benedict XVI and the late Pope John Paul the Great -- and there are countless others leading families and churches/congregations/orders -- who understand that the Lord's calling is nothing trivial. St. Josemaria Escriva was wont (it seems to me) to present the seriousness and gravity of the Lord's calling, and he was entirely right to do so. How can the Lord's calling ever be considered anything but a clarion call to arms when so much is at stake? It is easy to forget, especially in comfortable societies such as here in Australia, that our Christian calling has always been and is always a call to war, when good must confront evil -- in ourselves and around us -- and win. And we have in our arsenal faith, hope and love, and among our ammunition is prayer, and they all as their source and object the king of kings, the lion of Judah! But in any struggle, commitment and perseverance is crucial. When we slow down in our momentum towards Heaven, there is always the danger of letting distractions divert us from our goal -- to see the face of God and live!

Regnare Christum volumus: we want Christ to reign!

What fascinating support for papal supremacy

From the saints of the East, at that. Some of them having been Popes themselves. Amazing!

[Source: Catholic and Enjoying It!]

A Report on the Crisis in the Catholic Church in New Zealand

This report is disturbing, but is worth reading. I had previously found books about dissent, written by authors who have written or associate with groups on neo-pagan goddess/nature spirituality, in the lending library at our parish. Not that it's owned or run by the parish, but rather by some parishioners. We really need to be careful what our children are fed these days. Wolves in sheep's clothing and all that.

Lutherans, Catholics, and the chasm in between

It was months ago when Lito (extranos) and I exchanged ideas about the Lutheran-Catholic gap. At some point, Lito declared that I sound almost Evangelical. He also thought that I was like an Evangelical trying to remain Catholic. Lito felt the need to confront me and declare that I was either Evangelical or Catholic. At several points, Lito declared that I was confusing. :-)

I can't blame him. You see, there is a chasm between us, and no one can say for certain how wide that chasm really is. I had recently found a Ponificator post on the conversion of Prof. Robert Koons, and it confirms what I am about to say.

The problem with chasms is that you can't really tell how wide the gap is when it's too dark to do so. From having read up on converts such as Dr. Scott Hahn and Dr. Francis Beckwith, I think it is true that one can only measure that chasm through the light of charity. Without the light of charity to look at the other side, it is entirely impossible to put things in perspective. The other side might as well be as dark as the chasm.

[Story about Prof. Robert Koons was found via The Catholic Report.]

The Historical Christian on Visible Unity in the Church

This post is a must-read.

Yes, but do Australian MPs care?

You see this normal human skin cell? Flick this genetic switch and -- voila! -- an embryonic stem cell!

The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ

Thanks to the Catholic Report, I found the best thoughts and words to share about this feast of Corpus Christi. Nothing like a living witness, just as powerful as the Lord showed us it can be, and as he intended every one of our Christian lives to be. Fr. Owen Kearns at the National Catholic Register shares these victorious words on the Eucharist from Fr. Ragheed Ganni, recently martyred in Iraq outside his Church with some deacons:

“Mosul (Iraq) Christians are not theologians; some are even illiterate. And yet inside of us for many generations one truth has become embedded: Without the Sunday Eucharist we cannot live. “This is true today when evil has reached the point of destroying churches and killing Christians, something unheard of in Iraq till now. On June 2004 of last year, a group of young women was cleaning the church to get it ready for Sunday service. “My sister Raghad, who is 19, was among them. As she was carrying a pail of water to wash the floor, two men drove up and threw a grenade that blew up just a few yards away from her. “She was wounded but miraculously survived. And on that Sunday we still celebrated the Eucharist. My shaken parents were also there. For me and my community, my sister’s wounds were a source of strength so that we, too, may bear our cross. “Last August in St. Paul Church, a car bomb exploded after the 6 p.m. Mass. The blast killed two Christians and wounded many others. But that, too, was another miracle — the car was full of bombs but only one exploded. Had they all gone off together the dead would have been in the hundreds since 400 faithful had come on that day. “People could not believe what had happened. The terrorists might think they can kill our bodies or our spirit by frightening us, but, on Sundays, churches are always full. They may try to take our life, but the Eucharist gives it back. … “There are days when I feel frail and full of fear. But when, holding the Eucharist, I say ‘Behold the Lamb of God, behold, who takes away the sin of the world,’ I feel his strength in me. When I hold the Host in my hands, it is really he who is holding me and all of us, challenging the terrorists and keeping us united in his boundless love.”

Would you like to hire an employee who refuses to follow company policy?

So Cardinal George Pell is requiring Catholic Educators to swear to uphold the Catholic faith?

Yes!

Actually the cartoon has it wrong. They actually *need* those brains in order to assimilate that. Otherwise, if we hand the Catholic faith to folks with their brains in the bin, they'll only do what comes natural to them (in that state): dismiss the Catholic faith without a thought.

Pun intended.

Murder and Forced Takeover of a Church in Iraq

They murder the men who are guarding the Church then convert it into a mosque. How are they getting away with this without a squeak from the mainstream media?

Please pray for the Christians in Iraq!

[Story found via The Catholic Report.]

Pride and Hell

So this member of parliament says to the cardinal 'I would rather go to hell than take orders on how to vote from the Cardinal.' Dramatic, no? Lots of cliches I can think of here, but that's not nearly as interesting nor as urgent as what is at the heart of such an outburst. With such a retort, this MP is not appealing to the matter at hand -- which is the ethics of creating human embryos in order to use them as raw material, resulting in their death. No, this statement is about authority and power. Government is ideally about public service, but I wonder how much concern the MP has for the female public who risk the onset of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome from the drugs that are used in the harvesting of egg cells. I wonder how much thought the MP has put into the question of where human life really begins. If he'd care to check with embryologists, he might get the surprise of his life. And does he spare any thought to the dismal track record of embryonic stem cell research with zero successful human treatments so far? Has he considered how this legislation sets back the funding opportunities for adult stem cell research, which is far more promising and has enjoyed more than 70 successful human treatments so far?

But no, this MP isn't about those things. This is about who's in charge. This is about bravado. And sadly, this is about pandering to the crowd, who can be so taken with the idea of standing up to the Church that they can't be bothered to think about the matter at hand.

So the MP would rather go to hell? Oh he's doing his share to get us there, alright. When human beings at their most vulnerable are seen as no more than spare parts? Oh he's getting there..

Martyrs

Chaldean priest and deacons killed by gunmen outside the Church (right after celebrating Mass). May God grant them perpetual peace in His kingdom, and may God have mercy and shed His light upon those who did this.

Against atheism

Thanks for The Catholic Report, I found two thoughtful pieces against atheism today: one written by Peter Hitchens (brother of militant atheist Christopher) and another by Mark Shea.

Australian Tax Dollars to Pay for Overseas Abortions

This alert was sent to me by Right to Life Australia. Please get involved if possible. And pray!

Dear Friends of Life, We should like you to immediately contact by mail, fax or phone the Prime Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to protest against the proposal led by Dr Mal Washer, M.H.R. Moore, with the support of 50 pro-abortion federal M.P.s to overturn Australia's current ban on providing foreign aid for abortions in poor countries. Margaret Tighe Right to Life Australia Inc. Contact should be directed to: C/o Parliament House, PO Box 6022, Canberra, ACT 2600 Prime Minister Howard (at Parliament House) Tel: (02) 6277 7700 Fax: (02) 6273 4100 Mail: C/o Parliament House (as above) Hon Alexander Downer (at Parliament House) C/o Parliament House, PO Box 6022, Canberra, ACT 2600 Tel: (02) 6277 7500 Fax: (02) 6273 4112 Mail: C/o Parliament House (as above) This email was sent by Margaret Tighe, Righto Life Australia, PO BOX 240, Carlton Nth VIC 3054, 0415765742 to jefferson.tan@gmail.com

Couples for Christ

Members. We are. Not entirely sure how. Swept off our feet. But when I think about it, it seems more consistent with the work of God that we would feel like this and be a bit daunted. As some have said of the Catholic Church, it seems that CfC has claimed us (rather than we who claimed the CfC for ourselves). If a group had told us that it was as easy as 1-2-3 -- with no obligations, no sweat and no worries -- then it would be too trivial to be of God.

I'd been searching for a spiritual director for months now, so this seems to be God's answer. And I've been musing over the Catholic/Evangelical divide for years now, and CfC is both -- but while Evangelical, it is not Protestant. Perhaps I am onto the future of Evangelical Catholicism. The evangelizing zeal and spirit of Evangelicalism is alive in CfC! But while it is of the laity, it does not supplant the clergy. It instead focuses on what the laity does best -- to be efficacious leaven in daily living -- while remaining grounded on the Church as having both lay and clerical ministries. There is no inclination to merge these ministries. The household of God is huge, and His children have been given different callings and different gifts. Let the Magisterium of popes, councils and bishops teach and clarify. Let the clergy administer the sacraments. Let the religious orders teach, and minister to the needy. And let the laity, from families at the root, be leaven to the world. St. Josemaria Escriva would be pleased. :-)

May the Lord bless this new direction in our family's life. Veni, Sancte Spiritus!

The trial and martyrdom of St. Justin

From today's office of readings, online via Universalis:

From the Acts of the martyrdom of Saint Justin and his companion saints
I have accepted the true doctrines of the Christians
The saints were seized and brought before the prefect of Rome, whose name was Rusticus. As they stood before the judgement seat, Rusticus the prefect said to Justin: “Above all, have faith in the gods and obey the emperors”. Justin said: “We cannot be accused or condemned for obeying the commands of our Saviour, Jesus Christ”. Rusticus said: “What system of teaching do you profess?” Justin said: “I have tried to learn about every system, but I have accepted the true doctrines of the Christians, though these are not approved by those who are held fast by error”. The prefect Rusticus said: “Are those doctrines approved by you, wretch that you are?” Justin said: “Yes, for I follow them with their correct teaching”. The prefect Rusticus said: “What sort of teaching is that?” Justin said: “Worship the God of the Christians. We hold him to be from the beginning the one creator and maker of the whole creation, of things seen and things unseen. We worship also the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He was foretold by the prophets as the future herald of salvation for the human race and the teacher of distinguished disciples. For myself, since I am a human being, I consider that what I say is insignificant in comparison with his infinite godhead. I acknowledge the existence of a prophetic power, for the one I have just spoken of as the Son of God was the subject of prophecy. I know that the prophets were inspired from above when they spoke of his coming among men”. Rusticus said: “You are a Christian, then?” Justin said: “Yes, I am a Christian”. The prefect said to Justin: “You are called a learned man and think that you know what is true teaching. Listen: if you were scourged and beheaded, are you convinced that you would go up to heaven?” Justin said: “I hope that I shall enter God’s house if I suffer that way. For I know that God’s favour is stored up until the end of the whole world for all who have lived good lives”. The prefect Rusticus said: “Do you have an idea that you will go up to heaven to receive some suitable rewards?” Justin said: “It is not an idea that I have; it is something I know well and hold to be most certain”. The prefect Rusticus said: “Now let us come to the point at issue, which is necessary and urgent. Gather round then and with one accord offer sacrifice to the gods”. Justin said: “No one who is right thinking stoops from true worship to false worship”. The prefect Rusticus said: “If you do not do as you are commanded you will be tortured without mercy”. Justin said: “We hope to suffer torment for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so be saved. For this will bring us salvation and confidence as we stand before the more terrible and universal judgement-seat of our Lord and Saviour”. In the same way the other martyrs also said: “Do what you will. We are Christians; we do not offer sacrifice to idols”. The prefect Rusticus pronounced sentence, saying: “Let those who have refused to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the command of the emperor be scourged and led away to suffer capital punishment according to the ruling of the laws”. Glorifying God, the holy martyrs went out to the accustomed place. They were beheaded, and so fulfilled their witness of martyrdom in confessing their faith in their Saviour.

The marvels of parenthood

It's been a rather busy two weeks in the Tan household. The children got sick (one after the other). They got better and promptly took in another virus. Patrick can be particularly high-maintenance when he's ill, and my wife lost hours of sleep as a result. It can only be divine intervention that, through it all, a notable thought actually came to mind: how marvellous it is to be a parent! Why? It is truly gracious of God to share with us this gift of being parents to our children. While my wife and I may whine about the way our children whine when they are sick (hmm.. we do whine just as badly as they), our appreciation of the experience is nothing in comparison to how our Father in Heaven feels when we, his "adult" children, require such high maintenance and patience when we in turn get sick. Or crash in some form, e.g., become depressed, throw tantrums over stressful days. I think I have it bad? How does Abba in Heaven feel with millions of squabbling, whining children all over the world, puportedly grownups but childish in many ways. If I had patience the size of a mustard seed, O Lord! If I had the generosity the size of a grain of sand. How patient and generous Abba is in Heaven!

I wonder what would happen..

.. if a non-Catholic Christian were to become steeped in real Catholicism. I'm talking about the orthodox/faithful kind, not those apparently spawned by the touchy-feely 60s and 70s variety of Catholicism where RCIA was all about "oh we don't do that anymore" or "oh that's not really so important"..

Take prayer, for example. When I use the Divine Office (also known as Liturgy of the Hours), it still amazes me how Catholic it is -- and how it turns anti-Catholic rhetoric on its head. It also turns liberal Catholicism on its head, I think. I attend morning prayer as much as I can at my parish, and it is a wonderful feeling to start the day praising God. It's also a fast-track Scripture reading for me, easily covering 4 Psalms and a New Testament reading. Plus the ancient hymns from the first millenium. If we could just all start our days this way -- !

A sign of hope for Christian unity

I remember reading from someplace that Catholics and Evangelicals may be finding the right venue for dialogue: at the trenches, where they face tremendous challenges in defending the unborn, feeding the hungry, and other works of love. Last Sunday, at the family Mass where we celebrate Ascension Sunday, we had a few visitors from the nearby Uniting and Anglican churches. The parish priest helped them light a candle, they expressed the prayerful hope from their congregations, for the longed for Christian unity. I must confess feeling giddy when they spoke their prayers and parishioners (another jam-packed Sunday Mass) replied affirmatively: "Amen" for each of their prayers. Half a millenium of division.. but nothing is impossible with God. And so we continue to hope. And pray.

Blogging around, conversions this way and that

So Christianity Today interviews Dr. Francis Beckwith, former president of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) and recent Catholic convert (or revert) (which necessitated his stepping down from the aforementioned position). Note: he suggests that bewildered "on the matter of grace and justification" to try the following:

1. Read the portion of the Catechism that deals with this matter.
2. Read the Joint Declaration on Justification by the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church.
3. Remember to read each one charitably.

Bill Cork lays down some thoughts on his having returned to Adventism after nine years as a Catholic.

An Evangelical blogger shares his thoughts on why Evangelicals convert to Catholicism.

Not bad: I found all these through The Catholic Report. A gem of a site. :-)

But, finally, a word from Mark Shea about those who judge converts too harshly: "as a general rule, people do not leave the Church for theological reasons. They leave because they are hurt deeply." Speaking particularly of those who leave the Catholic Church, he points out that "[t]hey leave because they have found some balm for their torment that *we* ought to have given them and they have found it somewhere else--to our shame." Lord grant that I can be a balm to whomever has been hurt by his Church whose members are both saints and sinners at the same time.

Dr. Francis Beckwith hears the call of the Church Fathers

Found this link about Dr. Beckwith's decision thanks to the Catholic Report. Quite a few of the reactions in Dr. Beckwith's blog were angry. It's come to mind before that the one thing about such reactions that their sources seem to miss is not the anger, nor the hurt, nor the disappointment -- which are all understandable.

It's the pride.

Someone in the comment boxes noted (in different terms) that the same people who hate the Church Magisterium's perceived arrogation of infallible authority are arrogating the same for themselves. This should scare Christians but I've seen well-meaning Christians toss around an unshakable belief in themselves. Pride should scare the wits out of Christians! If we must boast, boast of the Lord and his work. I believe in the Church Magisterium, the Church Councils and the Church Fathers, not because the they more trustworthy than Scriptures, but because they are more trustworthy than me. Christ established them. I trust that the Lord established a Church, not my individual and personal infallibility. I trust that the Holy Spirit works within the Church, through anointed leaders -- just as he had done throughout the history of Israel and the Church. I trust in the body of Christ, to which I belong, and in which I am nurtured, and in which every member is called to a unique charism and ministry. The weight of teaching certitude is simply too great a charism for me. I freely embrace the possibility that I may be mistaken in Scriptural interpretation, and that seems to me to be a safer recourse than asserting that I may be wrong, or may fail to understand. Proceeding with the premise that I cannot be wrong, or that the group I oppose cannot be right seems to me a dangerous presupposition.

Victoria passes therapeutic cloning bill

Please pray for Victoria. Its upper house had approved the cloning bill. Pray for women whose lives will be imperiled. Pray for the soul of this nation. Health Minister Bronwyn pike is allegedly pleased as punch because "this places Victoria at the forefront of medical research."

Meditating on the Luminous Mysteries

These are the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary: The Lord's Baptism, The Wedding at Cana, The Proclamation of the Kingdom, The Transfiguration, and The Institution of the Eucharist. These five mysteries focus on five key events within the public life of the Lord before his passion and death on the cross, and they are full of mystery and insight. Some of the thoughts I had today were these:

• Why did the Lord choose to use water in baptism? The Lord is not bound to the physical world, is he? In the same vein, why did the Lord choose to use something likewise mundane, bread and wine, to celebrate so deep and holy a sacrament? How good is the Lord, for he deigns to bestow his holiness upon the mundane -- even mundane sinners like me! He humbled himself and was made mundane flesh! Truly God's creation was good from the first instance, as He declared, and He does not abandon what He has made with love! The physical universe is not in itself evil, and the Lord chooses to use the physical universe to sustain us, to teach us -- to bestow love upon us! He also shows us that He is not in the glittery gold and the twinkling and dazzling. He is in water, bread, wine. Truly our Lord makes Himself present in the simple things, making himself accessible to all who will open their hearts when He knocks!
• In the wedding at Cana, it is amazing that the Lord of the great feast of Heaven would bestow His first miracle upon a wedding feast! I have seen a Jewish wedding (well, a Jewish and Greek wedding feast put together). Heaven, the Lord tells us, is like a wedding feast, full of joy, dancing, singing, laughter. May we remember the Lord's presence in times of joy, not only in times of need.
• When the Lord proclaimed the Kingdom, He brought liberty to captives, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, mobility to the cripple, healing, and life to the dead. The Kingdom is not just proclaimed, for the Lord's word does not return to Him in vain. When the Word is sent out, frost melts, the waters stir -- the Word is efficacious! When the Lord declares, He works what is declared! Happy are we whom He declares to be washed, adopted as His sons and daughters, our guilt washed away, our just punishments borne by His sacrifice on the cross.
• In the holy mountain, the Lord's glory was flashed upon the pillars of the Church: James, John and Peter. They must have had need to see that, not only to bear witness, but to sustain them when they are tried in those three terrible days of catastrophe (which becomes euchatastrophic). And the Lawgiver, Moses was there. And the prophet Elijah was there. The Law and the Prophets come together in the New Covenant of the Lord, which is the Lord Himself.
• In the Eucharist, the Lord institutes the sacrament of love, giving Himself for our nourishment. His life in His blood is given to us for a new life.

The Lord has truly risen, Alleluia!

Victorial Upper House starts debate on cloning

Right to Life Australia (Marcel White) invites us all to voice our opposition to the cloning bill.

We are only a few votes away from the 20 needed to defeat this despicable legislation.

Can you please ring the offices of some of the KEY UPPER HOUSE MPs listed below, and urge them to vote against the cloning bill. If we can get a handful of them to vote our way, we may be able to gain a great victory for pro-life movement. The culture of death through cloning won by ONE SINGLE VOTE in the Federal parliament. It could be that close today and tomorrow.

Let's defeat the cloning bill.

Key MPs to contact:

Justin Madden (Western Metro) 9637-8087
Richard Dalla Riva (Eastern Metro) 9853-3955
Brian Tee (Eastern Metro) 9850-8600
Andrea Coote (Southern Metro) 9681-9555
Phillip Davis (Eastern Victoria) 5143-1038
Johan Scheffer (Eastern Victoria) 9751 2200
Matt Viney (Eastern Victoria) 9651-8911 (temporary number only)
Gordon Rich Phillips (South Eastern Metro) 9794-7667
David Koch (Western Victoria) 5572-3377

There are reasons aplenty to oppose cloning and embryonic stem cell research. We are all called to witness to the truth.

Pray for Mexico

Mexican lawmakers legalized abortion. I mistakenly asserted with AFP (from whom that news came) that they should have cited the fact that 80% of Mexicans oppose abortion. I was mistaken. The population in Mexico City appears to be sharply divided, as the article asserted, at 51% in favor. The rest of Mexico is more anti-abortion. The Mexicans need our prayers!

Human Life International asks for prayers for Mexico

Fr. Tom Euteneuer makes an urgent plea for Mexico, as the country is in danger from the peddlers of promiscuity and abortion:

The leftist government in Mexico City has now proposed legislation that would legalize abortion up to 12 weeks on demand. ... The vote is expected to take place next Tuesday, April 24th. Please pray and fast for this intention! I will be doing that and offering every Mass for this intention until that day.

Victorian Parliament votes on cloning today!

In Victorian Parliament there will be a vote on cloning today (or at the latest tomorrow) in the Lower House. This is an urgent action alert. Please email some or all of the following Memembers of Parliament, writing your name and your reasons for opposing cloning.

This Bill, if passed by both houses, will: Legalise cloning of human beings Allow the creation of animal-human hybrids Allow the use of aborted baby girl's premature ova cells to create clones

Please email some of the following members, who represent undecided voted, and tell them that they must oppose this cloning Bill.

Please write out the emails individually and address them to the politican concerned (if you send to all at once they won't think you bothered to contact them individually).

Marcel White

Christine Fyffe MP
Mr Neale Burgess MP
Mr Luke Donnellan MP
Mr Benedict Hardman MP
The Honourable Dr Denis Vincent Napthine
Mr Daniel Andrews MP

Also if you know what your local member's name is, give them a call at parliament house and tell them TO VOTE AGAINST THE CLONING BILL. I cannot stress how urgent this is. Call the parliament switchboard on 9651 8911, and ask for that member's office.

This email was sent by Marcel White, Right to Life Australia, 9387 7098, 0415765742 to jefferson.tan@gmail.com

Catechetical teaching via blog and YouTube

The Bishop's Conference back in the Philippines is reaching out via YouTube! Much of what ails the Church today is lack of proper understanding, which are passed on by confused parents to their children. This effort by our bishops should be supported with prayers and whatever can be done to get the word out. Check this out!

No Salvation Outside the Church, explained

The interested visitor (hello!) should read through the blog posts and comment boxes of two Catholic converts on this matter:

• Joel, and
• Aimee Milburn

I don't think it was ever drilled into me, a cradle Catholic, that non-members were damned as such. For example, there are those Catholic doctrines on baptism of desire, baptism of blood (martyrdom), perfect contrition, etc. I never heard Sister Martha, Father Joseph or any of our teachers point out "those wicked [insert least favorite religious group here] are damned because [insert favorite rant here]!"

Catholics who think that non-Catholics are necessarily denied salvation are probably the same people who think that Catholics are necessarily saved, and both are wrongheaded notions.

From Lost to Found: A Conversion Story

Yet another beautiful story of having been found by The Good Shepherd among the dark places of the world. Meet, Joel, Catholic Convert.

Wellington defeated...

There's an excellent homily for Easter Sunday citing an old war story. Apparently, this message sent via light signals reached Allied Troops: "Wellington defeated..", referring to the duke of Wellington who went up against Napoleon. That naturally dismayed the people who were praying for Wellington's victory, but it was an incomplete message, the fog having obscured the light. Eventually, when the fog had lifted a bit, the entire message was relayed that "Wellington defeated the enemy."

What a difference two words can make, joked our parish priest, and that is correct. "Christ defeated.." was the message of Good Friday, as the darkness rolled in, obscuring the light. But as St. John writes, the darkness could not overcome it, so at Easter, the full message is revealed: "Christ defeated the Enemy". The mystery of our faith is no good to us if incomplete, and so we proclaim "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again!" Christ died.. in order to destroy death, and so we proclaim "Dying, you destroyed our death. Rising, you restored our life. Lord Jesus, come in glory!"

An Hour of Adoration

I've never gone to a late night adoration of the Blessed Sacrament before tonight. It was beautiful. No bells (just the faint smell of incense from the Mass earlier tonight. I've been to benediction at an Opus Dei center near college many years ago, and it's the same thing: a quiet time spent with the Lord. At least after benediction, you get a few minutes of Eucharistic adoration. There's the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. Even if there was no exposition, just the Lord's real presence in the Eucharist within the tabernacle. But tonight is different. It is Holy Thursday, and the context is that night between the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper and the trial of the Lord by the Sanhedrin. Tonight, these words haunted me: "Could you not stay awake with me for one hour?" On Holy Thursday, we try to spend one hour (or however long we can), awake and praying, spending time with Him, remembering His terrible agony in the garden, while His disciples slept and left Him to his loneliness and anxiety. I, too, often sleep through His agony at my sins unfolding before His eyes, which He atones for because He loves me.

I dozed off a few times tonight, and I was alternating between sleepiness and wandering thoughts. But I'm so happy I went anyway. May it be, through God's grace, that I shall spend more and more time with Him, awake and praying, through this Holy Week and in all my days.

On this Holy Thursday, a prayer for humility...

This commentary comes from DailyGospel.org for Holy Thursday.

Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), Carmelite nun, doctor of the Church
Prayer to obtain humility

“This is my body that is for you” (1Cor 11,24)

   O Jesus, when you were a traveler in this world you said: “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves” (Mt 11,29). O Almighty King of Heavens, yes, my soul finds rest when it sees you “taking the form of a slave” (Phil 2,7), humbling yourself to the point of washing the feet of your apostles. Then I remember the words you pronounced to teach me to practice humility: “I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do...No slave is greater than his Master...If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it” (Jn 13,15-17). I understand, o Lord, these words coming out from your meek and humble heart; I want to put them into practice with the help of your grace...

   Nobody, o my Beloved, had rights over you, nevertheless you obeyed not only to the Virgin Mary and to Saint Joseph, but also to your hangmen. Now it is in the host that I see your annihilation reach its peak. What humility, o King of Glory, to submit yourself, without distinction, to all priests, to those who love you and to those who instead unfortunately are lukewarm or cold in their service of you. In answer to their call you come down from heaven...O my Beloved, under the veil of the white host you appear to me so meek and humble of heart! To teach me humility you couldn't humble yourself more...

   But, o Lord, you know my weakness; every morning I make a resolution to practice humility and in the evening I recognize that I still committed many sins of pride. And I am tempted to become discouraged, but I know that discouragement too is a form of pride. Therefore, I want to put my hopes in you alone, my God; since you are the Almighty, allow this virtue to grow in my soul. To obtain this grace of your endless mercy, I often repeat this prayer to you: “O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart similar to yours!”.

From Sola Scriptura to the Catholic Church

Owen posts about a journey via Sola Scriptura to the Catholic Church. I'm not gloating, but simply pointing out that the Bible and Catholicism are not as contradictory as they seem for many. A Bible-believing Catholic is not a contradiction in terms either, nor is it contradictory to be Christ-centered and Catholic.

The Church as sacrament of unity and salvation

From the Office of Readings today:

From the dogmatic constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah... I will plant my law within them and inscribe it in their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people... All shall know me, from the least to the greatest, says the Lord. It was Christ who established this new covenant, the new testament in his blood, calling into being, from Jews and Gentiles, a people that was to form a unity, not in human fashion but in the Spirit, as the new people of God. Those who believe in Christ, reborn not of corruptible but of incorruptible seed through the word of the living God, not from the flesh but from water and the Holy Spirit, are constituted in the fullness of time as a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people God has made his own..., once no people but now the people of God. This messianic people has Christ as its head: Christ who was given up for our sins and rose again for our justification; bearing now the name that is above every name, he reigns in glory in heaven. His people enjoy the dignity and freedom of the children of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple. They have as their law the new commandment of loving as Christ himself has loved us. They have as their goal the kingdom of God, begun on earth by God himself and destined to grow until it is also brought to perfection by him at the end of time, when Christ, our life, will appear, and creation itself will be freed from slavery to corruption and take on the freedom of the glory of God’s children. This messianic people, then, though it does not in fact embrace all mankind and often seems to be a tiny flock, is yet the enduring source of unity, hope and salvation for the whole human race. It is established by Christ as a communion of life, of love and of truth; it is also used by him as an instrument for the redemption of all, and is sent out into the whole world as the light of the world and the salt of the earth. The Israel of old was already called the Church of God while it was on pilgrimage through the desert. So the new Israel, as it makes its way in this present age, seeking a city that is to come, a city that will remain, is also known as the Church of Christ, for he acquired it by his own blood, filled it with his Spirit, and equipped it with appropriate means to be a visible and social unity. God has called together the assembly of those who in faith look on Jesus, the author of salvation and the principle of unity and peace, and so has established the Church to be for each and all the visible sacrament of this unity which brings with it salvation.

Judging the Roman Catholic Church

This is a brilliant and thought-provoking post at Open Book. Amy brings out two gems from Fr. Al Kimel (the Pontificator):

Adam, it is not just the poor worship. The poor worship has a cause, and the cause is ineffective, poor, or misleading catechesis. And, for me, still, this calls into question the proposition that “this is THE church”. If this is THE church, shouldn’t it do better at making Christians, out of both unchurched adults and little children?

The simple answer to your question is, yes. Yes, the Catholic Church should do better at making Christians, it should do better at evangelizing, it should do better at catechizing, it should do better at preaching the gospel, it should do better at worshipping God, it should do better in serving the poor and the oppressed, it should do better in every aspect of its life and ministry.

However, if the Church was doing better in all of these areas, or even just the one you have mentioned, would you be persuaded that the Catholic Church is the Church of Jesus Christ, as she claims to be? Of course not! Because performance neither proves nor disproves the claims of the Catholic Church. Ironically, your objection to the Catholic Church—viz., her poor, even sinful performance—is grounded in a works-righteousness understanding of the gospel. You are demanding that the Catholic Church justify herself as the Body of Christ by her works! But the Catholic Church is the Body of Christ only by grace and election!

Are you willing to apply the same criterion of performance to individual believers, to yourself? Are you willing to prove your regeneration in the Spirit by your works, by how well you are living the Christian faith, by how effectively you are proclaiming the gospel in word and deed? Jim, are you not in fact judging the Catholic Church by a standard you would never apply to yourself? What would you say to the nonbeliever who declares that Christianity cannot be true because there are so many bad Christians?

But your criterion of performance also fails for other reasons. For one thing, you are judging the Catholic Church on the basis of her performance in one geographical area in one period of time. But she has no doubt performed better (whether it be at catechesis or evangelism or whatever) in other places and in other times. Why not judge the Catholic Church at her best? Why not judge the Catholic Church by her saints?

But would you be persuaded even then?

And this..

Jim, for 2,000 years the Catholic Church has been proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and making disciples. How many saints must the Catholic Church produce to convince you? How many martyrs must lay down their lives? How many nations must she evangelize? How many churches must she build? How many baptisms must she administer? How many penitents must she absolve? How many Masses must she celebrate? How many religious orders must she establish? How many hospitals and schools must she found? How many hungry persons must she feed? How many homeless must she house? How many kings and despots must she confront in the name of Christ? And who stands today, pray tell me, more firmly and courageously against the culture of death, abortion, and sexual immorality than the Catholic Church?

If you insist on judging the Catholic Church by her works, then by all means do so, but do so across all categories of mission and ministry. Do not judge her just by your parish church in the year A.D. 2007 but judge her by her remarkable and glorious history that reaches back to the Apostles of Christ.

Yet are you truly in a position to judge her sanctity and sins, good works and failures? Why do you see only her weaknesses and not her strengths, her defeats and not her victories?

Running the race

In my conversations with Lito at extranos about his concerns regarding Catholics trying to buy their salvation with works (something which the Catholic Church does not teach but many misconstrue to be the case), I sometimes wonder what the point is in arguing about words. I recently read through Jimmy Akin's explanation of the term "justification" in Catholic teaching, and he reminds us that St. Paul exhorted his listeners "to avoid disputing about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers" (2Tim. 2:14, RSV; cf. 1Tim. 6:4).

Lito is only being thorough when he wants me to articulate my attitude concerning justification and works. This morning at Mass I was comforted to find St. Paul in today's readings (Philippians 3:8 - 14) capturing my very Catholic perspective on that:

"All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death. That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me. I can assure you my brothers, I am far from thinking that I have already won. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come; I am racing for the finish, for is the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus."

Yes, it is Lent, and I can tell a Lutheran that I also wish to share in Christ's sufferings by training my flesh in self-denial. This is something that Christ called us to do. Am I trying therefore to buy my salvation with this self-denial? No. At the foot of the cross in the school of Christ's passion, I simply wish to live the Incarnation in my flesh. To be perfect, as God calls me to be, in our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Sin, Scrupulosity, Fear and Lov

Lito had posted in his blog about Sean Hannity and Fr. Tom Euteneuer, the latter having publicly contradicted the former's heterodox notions about contraception. Lito had latched on to Fr. Tom's later statement (in another venue) that he was compelled to try and correct Mr. Hannity by his duty as a pastor, that to fail to even try would jeopardize his salvation. Lito and I had been going back and forth about justification by works (and Catholics do not advocate that this is by works alone), so I felt that I had to respond in order to head that off. Then Lito asked about mortal and venial sin:

All sins from my understanding are mortal as I think Jesus taught - for example he says to the Pharisees "to look at a woman to lust after her" is already tantamount to adultery so we sin in our thoughts, in our words and in or actions too. Would you agree to this characterization of sin? For example we do not love God and neighbor constantly so we are sinning mortally everyday.

This was my response. Not that everything that follows is spot on -- I am often guilty of hastily writing a response, particularly when I'm way past my bedtime (and the bread has probably gone past simply cooling down -- it is probably soaking by now -- in the bread pan). But Mark Shea's quip that no thought of his, "no matter how stupid, should ever go unpublished," is forever etched in my mind, so I wish to post my response to Lito for posterity:

I think the Catholic theology on mortal and venial sin is more .. rigidly organized. To constantly ask the question "is this mortally sinful or is it venially sinful only?" is not really the right attitude to sinfulness, but some people do fall into that. I have been known to drive myself crazy with scrupulosity, particularly when I was still in college.

BTW Cardinal O'Connor gives a good homily on that.

For me, scrupulosity loses out with love and trust: God's love and my trust in God's love more than any fear of God's judgment. It took a while for me to get here though, and scrupulosity can still rear its ugly head from time to time...

But as to sinning mortally everyday.. let's just say that we would disappoint God daily if not for His grace which, from time to time, manages to spur us into love. When we are called to regular confession, Catholics are urged to consider two things: God's love and our contrition. Love is superior to fear, but fear is not without its place. The fear of the Lord is of wisdom. Love of the Lord is at the end. Fear brings about imperfect contrition. Love spurs us into perfect contrition, with the right motive being that we would want more than anything to please the Lord because we love him. Now for those who would worry about mortal and venial sins.. I guess at a tender age with an immature level of faith, one would go through that stage when the Law is a set of rules; before one moves into the Law being a life of freedom written in our hearts. For those, I guess it is important to reassure them that, so and so are not serious acts of unrighteousness and so should not elicit an exaggerated dread of having lost Heaven, something which can harm one's faith -- the notion of God picking you apart for every transgression, the minor as much as the major. At the same time, it is important to be able to bluntly (sometimes necessary) point out to those with calloused consciences that so and so are serious sins which cry to Heaven for justice and must be dealt with appropriately. To do otherwise would also be harmful to the faith -- the notion that God does not care for the oppressed, does not expect justice in our actions.

There will always be people for whom the difference between mortal and venial, serious and minor trespasses, are relevant. To fail to distinguish them could be harmful to such people as they are still growing in their faith and righteousness.

Guilt and Confession

Please read this latest e-letter from Karl Keating (to which I am subscribed):

"CONFESSIONS: SATURDAYS FROM 4:00 TO 4:05"

Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:

That is what I imagine the average church's signboard could advertise, so few are those who go to confession any more. Like me, you probably go to confession regularly, but most Catholics go rarely or not at all.

This was confirmed in a newspaper article that appeared last week, so it must be true. The article was distributed by the Religion News Service, which said that "only 14 percent of Catholics go to confession yearly. ... Forty-two percent reported they never go to confession at all. ... Fifty years ago, penitents lined the aisles outside confessional booths on Saturday afternoons, waiting to admit their sins, recite the Act of Contrition, receive absolution from a priest, make their penance, and be forgiven."

Gone with the wind, that. What happened?

The article said that "sociologists and Catholic clergy list a number of reasons, including changing notions of sin, opposition to the Church's stance on birth control, widespread changes after the Second Vatican Council, ignorance about the sacrament, and busy lives."

Each of those, no doubt, has had something to do with our ending up with everybody going to Communion and almost nobody going to confession, but I think the real answer may be simpler than that. Let me tell you a true story.

Some years ago I was invited to dinner at the rectory of the most populous parish in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. When I knocked on the door, the housekeeper admitted me. It was evident at once that no one else was there. Had I shown up on the wrong night? Oh, no, said the housekeeper. All four priests were still in the church, hearing confessions.

On a Thursday night?

When the priests finally returned to the rectory, the pastor apologized for keeping me waiting. They had had fifty more penitents than usual for a Thursday. I remarked that Thursday evening seemed an odd time to have confessions. "Oh, we have confessions every evening," said the pastor--hundreds and hundreds of confessions each week.

I wondered how that could be possible. The pastor chuckled. He said that neighboring pastors asked the same thing--and they proffered answers. "Many of them say, 'Well, you're just getting our penitents because you have such convenient times for reconciliation,' but that's not so, you know. We can tell that these are our own people."

But why, I asked, were the four priests in this parish kept busy with confessions each evening, not to mention on Saturday afternoons, when in neighboring parishes only a handful of people showed up at the once-a-week slot for confessions?

"Easy," said the pastor. "It's so easy that other priests don't believe how we do it."

Okay, I said. What's the secret?

"From the pulpit we tell our people that they are sinners, that they know they are sinners, and that they need to go to confession. We tell them that God loves them and wants to forgive them. We tell them that we will be waiting for them in the confessionals each night and on Saturday afternoon. We tell them this often and always gently, and so they come to confession. Lots of them."

That's it? I asked. No fire and brimstone? No bribes, spiritual or otherwise? No threats?

"Not necessary," said the pastor. "If you tell people the truth that they already know in their hearts--that they are sinners and need forgiveness--they will respond to that." And so they did.

No matter what changes have occurred since Vatican II, no matter how ill-instructed today's Catholics may be, no matter how put off they may be by scandals or flat homilies, one thing has remained constant: human nature. People today commit the same sorts of sins that people committed fifty or a hundred or a thousand years ago, and those sins affect them as sins always have affected people. At least in this regard, there is nothing new under the sun.

The story I have told suggests why most parishes have few penitents: The fault is found not so much in the wider culture but in the narrow pulpit. When is the last time you heard a priest, even a good one, say clearly that those listening to him were sinners, knew they were sinners, and needed to go to confession--and that he would be waiting for them and would give them as much time as they needed?

Yes, I know of good priests who mention confession, but I can't remember the last time I heard that even one of them spoke about the sacrament the way it should be spoken about. And those are the good priests. What about priests who would rather not have Saturday afternoons so inconveniently interrupted, the ones who have never uttered the word "confession" from the pulpit, who think they are doing their parishioners a favor by not trying to burden them with guilt?

I have news for such priests: Their parishioners already are burdened with guilt. They struggle with guilt because each person over the age of reason is a sinner. That is something called a Brute Fact. What a pity that so many priests fail to understand what is so obvious to the people they preach to each week!

Until next time,

Karl

********************

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Pope Benedict Releases Sacrament of Love

Today I received this email from CatholicCulture.org:

Pope Benedict XVI today released Sacramentum Caritatis (Sacrament of Love), his apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist following up the work of the 2005 Synod of Bishops. What this important document covers can be roughly outlined by the titles of its three main parts:

1. The Eucharist, A Mystery to Be Believed
2. The Eucharist, A Mystery to Be Celebrated
3. The Eucharist, A Mystery to Be Lived

The document is available on CatholicCulture.org: Sacramentum Caritatis—Sacrament of Love.

Love into action

From the Daily Gospel, I found this gem from St. Cyprian concerning "love into action", as a good commentary of today's Gospel reading from Matthew 5:17-19.

Saint Cyprian (about 200-258), bishop of Carthage and martyr
Treatise on jealousy and envy, 12-13

The fulfilment of the Law: love into action

To put on the name of Christ, and not to go in the way of Christ, what else is it but a mockery of the divine name, but a desertion of the way of salvation; since He Himself teaches and says that he shall come unto life who keeps His commandments (Mt 19,17), and that he is wise who hears and does His words (Mt 7,24); that he, moreover, is called the greatest doctor in the kingdom of heaven who thus does and teaches; that, then, will be of advantage to the preacher what has been well and usefully preached, if what is uttered by his mouth is fulfilled by deeds following?

But what did the Lord more frequently instil into His disciples, what did He more charge to be guarded and observed among His saving counsels and heavenly precepts, than that with the same love wherewith He Himself loved the disciples, we also should love one another? And in what manner does he keep either the peace or the love of the Lord, who, when jealousy intrudes, can neither be peaceable nor loving? Thus also the Apostle Paul, when he was urging the merits of peace and charity, and when he was strongly asserting and teaching that neither faith nor alms, nor even the passion itself of the confessor and the martyr, would avail him, unless he kept the requirements of charity entire and inviolate (1Cor 13,1-3).

It would be easy to think that the Lord speaks to a separate group of people, i.e., unbelievers, when he warns of wrongdoing, e.g., "whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven." It is easy for us to think that our baptism makes us privileged members who can do no wrong. Not so. Being privileged members, much more is required of us. Our baptism gives us the means of sanctifying the world through our witness in deeds and words. In this generation, as much as it had ever been, the world needs a pure witness of charity/love, so that the world might believe that God the Father sent the Son who brings the gift of our salvation. Being recipients of this gift ourselves, we must share this gift with the whole world. To do otherwise would be to turn our backs on those who desperately seek satisfaction in the wrong places, whereas their hearts will only find joy when they rest in the Lord.

I sound almost like a Protestant?

At least that's what Lito says over at his blog in the comment box for this post on Orthodox developments. My response is by pointing out what not a few people have said, including scholar Prof. Scott Hahn and I think Cardinal Dulles: that 99% of what Protestants and Catholics believe are compatible. Take for instance the name of Lito's blog: "extra nos" or "outside of us". To Protestants, this may seem to be a notion that trumps and baffles Catholics, but it doesn't. I learned this from Dominicans, La Sallians, Jesuits, Redemptorists, Opus Dei priests and numeraries, not to mention lay authors and speakers. What Protestants fear about the Catholic faith may be well founded among the lapsed Catholics, even lapsed Catholic teachers and leaders, particularly in the 15th and 16th century, and quite a few in the "Spirit of Vatican II" generation, but not quite in Catholic dogma, and never as a whole applicable to every single Catholic.

Take for example the joint Lutheran-Catholic declaration on justification, very succintly presented by Cardinal Dulles in this article, which points out (jointly by the two bodies):

"Together we confess: By grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works."

You know, 99% is a pretty good number. It isn't 100%, but it sure is a heck closer to 100% than one might have expected. Syntax and semantic nuances aside, Christendom is not in such bad shape. After all, the Lord himself has prayed for our unity, and we are enlivened by the same Holy Spirit of unity. It is only that we must continue to give assent to that unity and allow the Holy Spirit to bring it about, not just for our sake, "that they also may be in us," but just as importantly, "that the world may believe that you sent me." Get that? The Lord said in John 17,

1. "I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
2. so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
3. that they also may be in us,
4. that the world may believe that you sent me.

So just how important is visible unity? What do you think?

Obsession about fetal stem cell research

Medical researchers have urged Sydney University to reconsider making a deal with Australia's oldest Catholic college that will prevent foetal stem cell research at a new medical facility.

I don't know if they're referring to embryonic stem cells, which require harvesting of the cell linings of embryos by the 14th day, or if they truly mean fetal (as in fetus) stem cell research. Either way, it's still wrong, and the fact that embryonic stem cell research has so far netted zero successful treatments while adult stem cells have been used for 72 successful human treatments just makes the matter that much more unbelievable. God bless St. John's residential college on this deal, and God bless Sydney U.

From an atheist into a priest

Yes, another conversion story, and a very romantic one:

My beloved wife, Elisabeth, prayed incessantly for my return to the Catholic Faith. Daily for this intention, she accepted and offered up all her sacrifices, trials, sufferings, and at the end, even her death.

But she did this secretly.

She never argued with me; she never spoke to me of the supernatural side of her life, save by her example.

I have, since Elisabeth’s death, learned to appreciate the power of her silence. God heard the constant prayer it concealed, and, when her sacrifice was accomplished, completed the conversion that was begun in me by her influence and by my reading her diary, which I found after her death, and which I present to you here.

The Word of God

Over at Lito's blog, I posted the following in response to his blog piece, "Unity or Truth":

It also struck me as I was reading this post that minimizing Christianity to "the Word of God" reflects what is happening with Bible fundamentalists. In what way? Well if Jesus is the Word of God, and the Bible is the Word of God, then all we need is the Bible and we have Jesus.

Hence we do not need the sacraments.

To American Evangelicals, or perhaps moreso to the Calvinists, the sacraments are extra-Biblical. Not that they have no Biblical basis -- although they will say that, too, about the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist -- but that they do not fit into this minimalist notion of "just the Bible and me" and nothing else.

Does that make sense?

Why do I blog about Christian (dis)unity?

Discussion between Lito and myself, which started with my post here about a former Calvinist (now Catholic), continues in this post. The latter post took off from Lito's points about what THE Church that Christ built means, and has now spilled over to the canon of the Old Testament.

I tend to shy away from debates because I am not worthy. I am neither a biblical scholar, nor a historian, nor am I even an exemplar of Christianity. But I started a blog, and I love posting conversion stories, and I have always felt drawn to the topics that divide Christians, which, to me, are a grave scandal and a terrible rejection of the Spirit of unity which the Lord infused into the Church 2000 years ago. I can never, ever, swallow the notion that disunity is something we have to live with, because the Lord was so explicit in his will for the unity of his flock, a unity which, he prays, mirrors the oneness of the Son and the Father in the Trinity. That oneness leaves no room for doctrinal contradictions and ambiguity.

And that is why I continue to blog about this.

Surfing around and found: the Early Church Fathers on the Church

More to share about the Church, found via Free Republic, from the early Church fathers, with quotes from St. Ignatius of Antioch (Letter to the Smyrneans 8:2 [A.D. 110]), St. Irenaeus (Against Heresies 1:10 [A.D. 189]), Tertullian (On the Prescription Against Heretics 22,30 [A.D.200]), St. Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis 6:13:107:2 [post-A.D. 202]), and others.

Surfing around, found Sean's faith website

It looks pretty good (Catholic, of course). Also found online transcriptions of St. Francis de Sales' pamphlets, "The Catholic Controversy", in which he dealt with questions of the Church, the Papacy, Scriptures, Purgatory, mission of the Church, and Faith and Reason. St. Francis de Sales, of course, is a doctor of the Church, well known for having written "The Introduction to the Devout Life". Well known also for having brought back a large part of Le Chablais, in Geneva, which was already a Calvinist territory, "by preaching, zeal, learning, kindness and holiness."
[Further reading: Catholic Encyclopedia entry on the blessed saint and doctor. The pamphlets transcribed in the link above are also must-reads.]

What is the Church?

There's an ongoing discussion in the comment boxes of this post. The dialog begins with Lito pointing out something wrong with the question posed by Jeremiah:

"Given my Calvinist distinctives, which church would have claimed me as one of their own?"

It all goes downhill from there. :-)

There is an obviously large difference between the Catholic understanding of "the Church" and that of Lutherans (and Evangelicals) -- Lito is a Lutheran. The Coming Home Network has an online journal with good contributions from various converts to Catholicism, which is a good place to start with regards to the Catholic position, in light of the authors' previously held non-Catholic perspectives.

And the thoughtful visitor may wish to join the discussion by leaving comments.

Would YOU officially affiliate your church with an excommunicated leader of his church?

Jan. 31, 2007 (CWNews.com) - The primate of the Greek Orthodox Church has criticized the Patriarchate of Constantinople for accepting the affiliation of Orthodox bodies which, in effect, compete with established Orthodox churches in other countries. Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens made his comments in response to the decision by the Constantinople patriarchate to welcome Bishop Basil Osborn, who had been the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain. By accepting the affiliation of Bishop Basil-- who has been excommunicated by the Moscow patriarchate-- the Ecumenical Patriarchate is creating a “dangerous divisive situation,” the Greek archbishop said.

I am sympathetic to both camps. I understand the need for fraternity among Christians, even extended to those excommunicated, but on the other hand, what's the point of excommunication if it only results in a splinter church whose leader has not reconciled with the Church? Would he not lead his flock to ruin? At the same time, there is this practical problem that Christians outside the Catholic Church truly must deal with: in the absence of a single arbiter, how is excommunication of any use? Excommunication is not a consignment to hell, as people often mistake it to be, but a means of effecting repentance and reconciliation -- exactly as the Lord taught to those who go astray (Matthew 18). But excommunication is worth nothing without the concept of a bottom-level foundation for the authority to excommunicate. This authority was given, of course, to the Apostles, and the Orthodox patriarchs are certainly exercising their authority in the cited report. But what if it is a clash between patriarch and patriarch? Bishop and bishop? If an excommunicated bishop or patriarch were to up and take along with him his own flock, then who is the highest administrative arbiter?

Well, of course I was going to say the Successor of St. Peter, who was given the particular role of holding the keys of the kingdom in Matthew 16, for binding and loosing on earth as in Heaven! If not the Pope, then who else? If not anyone, then what's the point in the Lord even mentioning excommunication?

Trapped in the wrong body, or the wrong mindset?

Hats off to Uncle Di, who exposes the forces of political agendas against (gasp) Natural Law.

This is vile even by progressivist standards. German quacks started pumping a 12-year-old boy, now 14, full of female hormones so as to make him "the world's youngest transsexual." For legal reasons, castration and other surgical mutilation must be delayed until "Kim," born Tim, turns 18.

According to the Telegraph article:

Tim was diagnosed as a transsexual two years ago, when doctors and psychiatrists concluded that his claims to be "in the wrong body" were so deeply felt that he required treatment. The therapy involves artificially arresting male puberty, with a series of potent hormone injections before the administration of female hormones to initiate the development of features such as breasts.

Says Uncle Di:

Progressivist intellectuals such as deans and editors and high court judges see the indefensible puerility of a phrase like "trapped in the wrong body" as clearly as we do. But they tolerate it -- and, at need, defend the mutilation it purports to justify -- as the price of deflecting the force of Natural Law reasoning, which, if permitted to direct their deliberation and choice, would mean they'd have to forfeit altogether the project of protean sexuality (self-created, free-form, non-judgmental sexual liberty) which is the keystone of their public philosophy. Such a forfeiture is unthinkable. Sooner than put that project at risk, they're willing to put up with incoherence and cruelty.

The political alliance between abortion rights and gay rights absolutists bears this out. Gays claim that unitary human nature is a fiction and that the individual has absolute dominion over his own trajectory. Why? Because it allows them total liberty of sexual indulgence. Abortion partisans claim that a woman has absolute dominion over her own body. Why? Because it allows them total liberty of sexual indulgence as well as the liberty to disencumber themselves of the undesired consequences of that indulgence. Robert Bork points out that an absolute right over one's body was not recognized by law (the law didn't permit a surgeon, he says, to amputate a man's healthy arm even if he asks him to -- say, to settle a bet), but there's no question today that judges will pretend it's absolute wherever the project of moral self-determination -- what Scalia calls "the sweet mystery of life" jurisprudence -- is imperilled.

The excision of a healthy baby, like that of a healthy limb, is of a piece with the decision to addle a 12-year-old boy with estrogen on the basis of the politically expedient imbecillity that he's "trapped" in the wrong body. It has nothing to do with physiology and everything to do with Elton John's habits of oral hygiene -- which habits the Western élites have made the touchstone of public thought about civil order. If a few innocent Tims get Kim'd in the process -- well folks, we've already put orphans out to ranch in gay households and ash-canned tens of millions of unborn babies as surgical waste. It's the price of progress.

The peaceful fruit of righteousness

From today's readings (US):

Letter to the Hebrews 12,4-7.11-15. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood. You have also forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons: "My son, do not disdain the discipline of the Lord or lose heart when reproved by him; for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines; he scourges every son he acknowledges." Endure your trials as "discipline"; God treats you as sons. For what "son" is there whom his father does not discipline? At the time, all discipline seems a cause not for joy but for pain, yet later it brings the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it. So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled,

A (former) Calvinist now calls Rome Sweet Home

God bless him. His journey started with questions and continue with more questions. Like these:

Actually, my skepticism started with a rather simple question: Where would I have attended church during the first 1,500 years of church history? This question, posed by Jargon, has haunted me every day since. Given my Calvinist distinctives, which church would have claimed me as one of their own? Which church father would identify with my protestant doctrines? Why do I feel spiritually disconnected from the first 1,500 years of the church? These questions, and many others, were the center of my spiritual reflection since that day.

Much of it also boiled down to a question I had been very fond of asking others during debates: by what standard? That question was the clincher in virtually any theological debate. It forced my opponents to grapple with the concept of authority vs. autonomy. Problem was that this question turns out to be a smoking gun in the case against Protestantism. By what standard do we deem one worldview Christian and another non-Christian? The Bible? By what standard do we deem one interpretation of the Bible to be the Christian worldview while excluding another interpretation? Furthermore, by what standard do we deem one book canonical and another extra-biblical? By what standard? Who’s authority? Where did they get it from? How is their conclusion binding?

Welcome home, brother!

Threat to free speech in the US

Free speech may be imperiled, in the US, of all places:

In reaction to the lobbying scandals of the past several years associated with Jack Abramoff and others, the U.S. Senate is seriously considering lobbying reform legislation (S.1).

But within the 56-page measure are sweeping new restrictions on free speech regarding what is going on in Congress.

Section 220 of the bill would for the first time restrict and regulate paid efforts to stimulate "grassroots lobbying." Section 220 defines "grassroots lobbying" as follows: "The term ‘grassroots lobbying’ means the voluntary efforts of members of the general public to communicate their own views on an issue to Federal officials or to encourage other members of the general public to do the same."

This provision would have a chilling, if not freezing, effect on grassroots organizations like Feminists for Life – and your right to be informed about what is going on in Congress.

Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) has offered BENNETT AMENDMENT No. 20 to Senate Bill 1. The BENNETT AMENDMENT removes the most dangerous section of S.1 by striking Section 220 entirely from the bill. (The reporting requirements and fines included in Section 220 are listed below.)

Feminists for Life joins National Right to Life Committee and other advocacy groups in strongly supporting the BENNETT AMENDMENT No. 20.

The vote on the BENNETT AMENDMENT will likely be today—Wednesday, January 17th. Discussion on the floor has just begun! Please contact your U.S. senators NOW to urge support for the BENNETT AMENDMENT No. 20 to Senate Bill 1—an amendment that will help protect our right to advocate on behalf of women and children. Call 202-224-3121 and ask for your senator’s offices. Or you can go to this web-link to find a direct dial number.

Don’t let anyone take away our right to advocate on behalf of women and children. Thank you.

Because women deserve better,
Serrin M. Foster
President
Feminists for Life of America
www.feministsforlife.org

SPECIFICS OF Section 220—WHICH WOULD BE REMOVED BY THE BENNET AMENDMENT:

-- Under Section 220 of S. 1, anyone who is paid anything by an organization that spends any money at all to encourage more than 500 members of the general public to communicate with members of Congress, if he or she also has contacted congressional offices directly as few as two times, and has spent as little as 20% of his or her time on such direct lobbying and grassroots-motivating activities, would be required to register with Congress and file detailed quarterly reports, including information regarding donors to the organizations under some circumstances.

-- In addition, any such individual who is paid by an organization or organizations spending more than $25,000 in a three-month period on "paid efforts to stimulate grassroots lobbying" would also be required to register and report expenditures as a "grassroots lobbying firm."

-- Violation of the bill's requirements would be punishable by a civil fine of up to $200,000 per infraction. "Corrupt" violations would also be punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison (whether a given violation was deemed "corrupt" would be initially determined by a U.S. attorney, a political appointee).

PLEASE JOIN FEMINISTS FOR LIFE IN SUPPORTING THE BENNETT AMENDMENT.
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS TODAY. THANK YOU!

Pharmaceuticals and Government

This case of Novo Nordisk providing funds for the Tasmanian Liberal senator's forum discussing obesity issues does not sound as bad as it could. There is no direct conflict of interest, and we should be happy to hear of money donated for public health awareness. We should be more concerned about the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), which is funded by pharmaceutical companies. How can it be advocates for safe therapeutic goods when its operations are funded exclusively by the makers of those goods?

Please don't starve us to death!

It appears that it has become necessary in the UK to tell doctors what used to be (and should remain) common sense: if a patient is still sustained by food and water, then he or she should continue to receive them. Apparently, the law requires doctors to terminate patients if their "quality of life" -- based on the doctor's judgment -- has become unbearable. The trouble is that doctors can't really tell what's going on inside a person's mind who cannot communicate anymore. They can't even determine for a fact what constitutes a permanent vegetative state. Hey, we're not asking for thousands of dollars in expensive drugs and treatment: just food and water. What's the big deal? Whatever happened to basic human rights?

Stem cells from amniotic fluid

This is good news (from Associated Press, 2007-01-07):

Scientists reported Sunday they had found a plentiful source of stem cells in the fluid that cushions babies in the womb and produced a variety of tissue types from these cells -- sidestepping the controversy over destroying embryos for research.

[Link found via Catholic World News.]

Update: So this research has been heavily opposed in some quarters:

Jan. 9, 2007 (CWNews.com) - One of the scientists responsible for a breakthrough in stem-cell research has reported that he encountered heavy resistance to the publication of his work because it used stem cells obtained from amniotic fluids rather than from embryonic tissues.

Paolo De Coppi told the Italian ANSA news agency that a groundbreaking paper published this week in Nature Biotechnology had previously been rejected by four different journals. “It took seven years to get our paper published,” he said.

Whatever happened to objective science?

Why do we oppose embryonic stem cell research?

It's come to mind a few times before, and this statement from Dr. Markus Grompe, director of Oregon Health & Science University's Stem Cell Center since 2004 nails it right -- painfully, as I've never come right out and said it before:

The reason we object to embryonic stem-cell research is not because the cells are not good or the adult cells are better. The real reason is that we have moral and ethical objections. We have to stick to our guns. Just because a medical procedure is immoral doesn't mean it will not work.

I've been sticking to the "embryonic stem cell treatments have never worked but dozens of adult stem cell treatments have" slogan for years because it's easier to cite that. I feel more comfortable citing empiricals to non-believers. But Dr. Grompe is right: it's far more courageous -- and utterly important -- to declare what is not so easy to say. We oppose it because it is wrong, regardless of how effective or ineffective it is.

On the other hand, I cannot shake this feeling that the science behind embryonic stem cell research are futile simply because nature rebels against it. The physical universe is not the chaos that some, particularly atheists, declare it to be, whether they are aware of it or not. This does not square with the evidence. Physical laws of nature exist, and everything in the physical universe complies with those laws consistently and constantly. Certain realities even in the field of medical research have yet to be bent to man's will, such as the propensity of tissues, e.g., grown from embryonic stem cells, to become cancerous when transplanted to a host other than its own source. This is the primary hindrance, the way I understand it, to embryonic stem cell treatments: cancer cells are created in the patient because.. well.. that's just how it seems to go.

Still, since I am no expert in the medical sciences, I had best keep to what I know more about. Embryonic stem cell research is wrong simply because it destroys countless human lives -- that of the embryo. Even if intending to save other human lives, it simply does not square. It is one thing to voluntarily sacrifice one's own life to save another, it is quite another thing to make that decision for someone else.

[Full article here. Link found via the Curt Jester.]

Nature of Authority is Theme of Evangelical-Catholic Dialogue

WASHINGTON (January 4, 2007)--The Evangelical – Catholic dialogue held its fifth meeting at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, October 6-8, 2006. Most Rev. Frederick Campbell, Diocese of Columbus, Ohio completed his term as Bishop Co-Chair and a new co-chair will be appointed soon. The dialogue considered the theme of the nature of authority, especially in Scripture ...

It's always good to tackle these questions head on. The report does not say, but I hope and pray that the outcome has been positive.

Morning after pill inefective??

So a New Zealand pharmaceutical recently admitted that RU-486 (aka the morning after pill or Plan B) Plan B is an abortificent. Now a scientific study published in the Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology strongly suggests that RU-486 the "morning after pill" "has not been shown to reduce unintended pregnancy rates." What does it mean, then? Well apart from robbing consumers blind, it provides that nasty false sense of security to fool around, setting couples up for heartache and the possibility (a strong one, since they already ignore abortificent warnings about Plan B) of subsequently opting for clinical abortion. The winners are the pharmaceuticals who earn money for nothing, and abortion clinics who earn millions from abortion procedures. The losers are the unborn as well as the women who risk their health and lives from the potentially fatal complications of RU-486 chemical and clinical abortions.

Update: My apologies for errors, now edited above. Plan B (the morning after pill, progestin-based) is not equivalent to RU486 (mifepristone, the chemical abortion pill). Although both substances can prevent fertilized eggs to implant successfully on the uterine lining.

Stealing their childhood

And parents are going along. Completely unaware that they are being fleeced of their hard-earned money to give their children temporary thrills and lifelong heartaches. The parents are being robbed of their money and the children are being deprived of sensibilities.

Whatever happened to responsible journalism?

Is the NY Times still respectable if they are verified to have published lies? And what are they planning to do about it? "The New York Times is seriously contemplating removing its public editor (ombudsman) position which was instituted in 2003 to be an independent voice for the public within the paper in order to maintain credibility." They created that position to safeguard the truth, but they'd rather discard the truth, it seems.

[Via LifeSite.net]

Truth in advertising

Plan B (RU486) is an abortificent. That's what the manufacturer in New Zealand says. So will the peddlers of contraception and abortion please stop lying about it?

[Via LifeSite.net]

Further reading: The RU-486 Files.

Mother of God

Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio writes a short but very informative piece about the controversy that is still generated by the Catholic and Orthodox dogma of Mary as the Mother of God (in Greek: Theotokos or "God-bearer". If you are one of those who squirm at this title, or know people who would, then please read this piece. As with any spiritual reading, please ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and reveal the truth to you before you start reading. After a thoughtful and prayerful reflection, please consider the implications of this dogma:

God the Son united Himself with a human nature forever. Humanity and divinity were so closely bound together in Jesus, son of Mary, that they could never be separated again. Everything that would be done by the son of Mary would be the act both of God and of man. So indeed it would be right to say that a man raised Lazarus from the dead and commanded the wind and waves, that God was born that first Christmas day and that, on Good Friday, God died.

And please consider the implications of rejecting this dogma:

It would mean that God had not really embraced our humanity so as to become human. Rather, the humanity of Christ is hermetically sealed off from the divinity, as if Jesus were two persons, as if human nature were so distasteful that God, in Christ, had to keep it at arm's distance. ...

[Did God] just come and borrow a human body and drive it around for awhile, ascend back to heaven, and discard it like an old car[?]

Pray without ceasing

Lots of intentions to go around. Mercy for Saddam and his cohorts. Peace in the Middle East. Justice for the oppressed. Charity in all hearts as we start a new year. But at the core of it all should be this: that we may see the face of God. LumenGentleman Apologetics offers a great piece on prayer. Yes, even for busy people. Perhaps even more so, in fact.
[Link found via Julie D. at Happy Catholic.]

The madness behind embryonic stem cell research advocacy

Maureen L. Condic, associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the University of Utah School of Medicine, tells us that it's boils down to something simple (emphasis mine):

The assertion that embryonic stem cells in the laboratory can be induced to form all the cells comprising the mature human body has been repeated so often that it seems incontrovertibly true. What is missing from this assertion remains the simple fact that there is essentially no scientific evidence supporting it. Experiments have shown that embryonic stem cells are able to participate in normal embryonic development, an observation that is also true of cancerous embryonal carcinoma cells. When injected into early mouse embryos, both embryonic stem cells and embryonal carcinoma cells randomly contribute to every tissue of the developing body.

Please read the full article from First Things. Comments in Amy Welborn's blog are often very insightful.
[Link found via Amy Welborn's blog, Open Book.]