Francis and the media

A couple of days ago on the First things blog Liz Scalia commented on the Popes speech given on the plane following WYD.  To keep things short she theorized that the Holy Father was being a crafty Jesuit in manipulating the media for his purpose.

Pardon me...  did she watch the news and how they covered it.  Sure what he said doesnt conflict with the catechism, but when the media knows its clients are not interested in more than a quick blurb this is a problem.  The Pope might well be witty, but all the media has to do is ignore 99% of what is said and promote the 1% out of context (note this was also done to Benedict when "Light of the World" was put out).

Look I love and pray for every Holy Father but....please, please dont let yourself be manipulated! There is nothing crafty about 90% of all Catholics now thinking homosexuals should never be judged.  There is nothing crafty about 5% probably being scandalized.

Hes being used.  The media might well have put forth a virtual council following and during VII, but they do the same thing now with Francis.

BTW, I know he wants the Bishops to stand up for teachings like abortion and he feels like Catholics know the fundimental church teachings, but, Your Holiness I dont think you have even begun to comprehend the barque you have taken captain of.

Say three Hail Marys for Him....I know

Oh and a HUGE HUGE Shout out to our Lady!

So by Gods grace our Lady on her Feast Day came through and stopped the RH Bill in the Philippines...keeping hope alive, but only by a thread

+Our Lady of Good Success Pray for Us!+

+JMJ+

No Fear

So the Holy Father is foregoing a number of security measures during his trip to WYD over the next week.  Is anyone else just a little more concerned on the matter?  Maybe I’m just a worry wart
.

h/t Terrence Berres too funny

Im not sure if there is a reasoning behind him foregoing the security, perhaps it has to do with his his trust in providence.  Maybe he just wants to be closer to people.  I think both are admirable and commendable.  Having said that I am just a little afraid for him in this situation.   Rio is not Madrid as could be seen in the overpowing of the crowd to get to the Fiat the Pope was riding in (that’s right a Fiat, I guess safety has a name and its submission to God’s will literally. 

I just hope that he recognizes that he is no longer just the Bishop of little ole Buenos Aires but the supreme pontiff over the whole church.  His safety is important to all of us.  Please say a prayer for his and everyone’s safety at WYD.

+JMJ+

Begging the question again and again and again….

There are a few great joys in my life.

Daily Mass at the Gesu with Jesuits (from time to time frustrating, but St. Stans daily masses are at 12pm)

Eucharistic Adoration at Mary Queen of Heaven or St. John the Evangelist

A solid beer

But I would be remised to not say I don’t love watching and listening to The Glenn Beck Program every weekday.  It’s like an addiction, he delves into technology, politics and the occasional spiritual bit.  Glenn is an apostate Catholic, now referring to himself as a Mormon.  In general, as I have said in the past, I think he is a decent person with a good heart, but as Chesterton says, “a heart in the wrong place”. 

People along the lines of Beck or Rush Limbaugh appeal to many Americans because they speak to their crowd appealing to the common denominators.  Specifically speaking they appeal to the ideals of America in how they were founded and the culture that developed around it. 

Well every once in a while Mr. Beck will get into an emotional mood and start down the way mixing his religious views with his American views (which is common in Mormonism, mind you they see the US constitution as a divinely inspired document).  Today was no different and I figured I’d run through a couple things that were said and add my own commentary to it. The context of the words spoken is in a dialogue with a protestant pastor from Washington state. So enjoy:

“We all wanted America to succeed and we all believed in America, but it is so troubling at this time.”

- First I think it is reasonable to want America to succeed since most of us were born and grew up here.  We have attached a certain fondness to the American way of life, the flag stands now for something greater then a bobble on ones desk.  We attach meanings to this country, freedom, the American Dream and the joys of Capitalism.  All of these things are neutral and shouldn’t offend anyone.  There might well be many people in other countries that attribute such things to their own homelands.  Yet I don’t really believe in America like Mr. Beck does.  To him America is a country set apart by God with divine providence as its guide.  To me America is a great country but if tomorrow it would all come to an end like Rome did during St. Augustine’s time then oh well.  America has no divine promise of prosperity.  Mother Teresa reminded people of this when she said a country where mothers kill their own children will not survive.  I dont know whether or not abortion will ever be ended in this country but I know that the contraceptive mentality will not end.  It is this contraceptive mentality, which even Catholics can fall into with NFP, which really destroys life on a generational scale making abortion look like child’s play. 

“Pastor Hutchinson has the truth and America needs to listen because he is being lead by the spirit”

- I want to give you as the reader some background here.  Mr. Beck though not an outward anti-Catholic clings to the typical list of lies told about the church (ie: inquisitons, crusaides, evil Popes, burning of witches), so he is not interested in hearing a Catholic view point of authority.  The few Catholics that he has had on only addressed things vaguely.  But back to the statement.  The claim that Pator Hutchinson has the truth might well be true to a degree.  It is Catholic teaching that other religions might well hold to Catholic truths and proclaim them loudly, yet such truths are not their own but they are first Catholic truths.  Second it would be a falsehood to say that this protestant pastor/laymen has the truth since he rejects the whole of Christian truth.  Now the question of whether someone is worthy of being listened to because they have the “spirit leading them”.  One has to ask what authority does Mr. Hutchinson have in the so called church?  Who gave him authority?  Is it because people like what he says because he challenges them?  Is it because he proclaims Christ crucified for all?  And what with the lead by the spirit comment?  What spirit?  If he has the truth then why would Beck not leave his Mormon beliefs and embrace Protestantism?  If he is lead by the spirit can he err?  Will the spirit allow him to err when he is giving his teachings?  Just like with all protestant beliefs there is a lack of substance to what they proclaim.  Their stances might well be emotional and appeal to the masses, but they lack an objective presentation of the faith that can be traced all the way back and that can be supported with evidence.  One has to ask both people two questions by what objective authority do you preach?  What objective reason do we have to believe that every book in scripture is actually infallible?

Tired of heresy yet? James 5: 19-20

+JMJ+

Vericast and Skeeoh

Hey Folks!

I just wanted to take a moment and give a HUGE, HUGE thumbs up for the Vericast Network.  If you are unfamiliar with them it’s mostly an effort by two orthodox, high octane Catholics that put forth what they call the hardest hitting catholic podcast on or off the internet.  They put together three shows a week hitting on various topics that the mainstream Catholic media won’t hit on (I guess you could say it’s sort of like Voris).

 

 

I would encourage any Catholic out there to download the podcast on any platform.  So too I would encourage people to get on their startup Catholic social media network Skeeoh.  Unlike fisheaters you won’t see sedevacantes, and unlike Catholic Answers you can delve into what some term uncharitable matters like the innovation of the OF, or calling out protestants for being heretics.

Tim Haines and Wilson Orihuela are the major players in this new apostolate and deserve some support even if it’s just prayers!

 

Keep it up Guys!

Heres a taste of their shows:

 

 

On the Trial...and who is really at fault for the decline of the culture

It should not be a surprise that the verdict on Saturday came out as not guilty.  It seemed to most of us that there was no real evidence showing that Mr. Zimmerman had done anything illegal in a temporal or moral sense.  Yet for two nights now we get stuck with riots and general terror by people greatly upset with the juries verdict.  I found the following pictures online at the Daily Mail website showing conditions in New York, LA and so forth.  Being blunt this is pathetic, but its all part of the plan.

A while back I remember seeing a talk by former, then ousted, Green Czar Van Jones where he made a comment that a revolution was coming, that it would be Bottom up, Top Down and Inside out.  Now to most of us this seems like mere rhetoric and is generally poo-pooed as such.  Yet a couple people, generally associated with blogs or conservative outlets picked up on this immediately.   People like Glenn Beck (who I have posted the video below for) did his best to bring to the public knowledge of this plan, and to some extent I think we might have been helped. 

Its not that this is the sign that we are in trouble.  Its only one thing in a laundry list of signs.  The Fabian Socialists were just on the tip of the era.  They wished to set the world a blaze so as to make it closer to their hearts.  Part of their plan included eugenics which was directly associated with the racist attitudes that most of them held.  Creating Race wars is just another way to promote division and confusion among people, and I don’t need to tell you the million news stories that are so prevalent just in the US alone.  It seems like there is so much to keep in mind that we are seriously in dire straits. 

This Zimmerman case is just another show case to cause confusion and division and it is fueled by a media complicit in acting against life and the will of God made known in his Holy Catholic Church.  Mr. Zimmerman made a statement to the officer before even knowing Trayvon was dead that his Catholic faith made it clear the killing of another is always wrong (speaking of murder of course).

The complicit are abundant. 

1.       The Media

2.       The Government

3.       The wealthy Progressives and Conservatives

4.       The ignorant masses

But in the end who is at fault?

Catholics.

That’s right Catholics.  Many Popes and Holy people like St. Bernadette of Lourdes noted that all the evil of the world is the fault of bad Catholics.  I confess that all to often I fall into this category.  My pride, my lustful desires, my thirst for worldliness too often clouds my sight and I fall. 

I was thinking it is now time to really take my call to holiness seriously, not that I haven’t at times, but he calls us to be perfect and this scares us.  Dr. Peter Kreeft says that we are all called to be great saints but we hold ourselves back from this with worldly concerns.  For me its always wanting credit for my actions.  Too often I think my knowledge is grander then others and I want to set them straight regardless of how I do so.  Often times I am uncharitable and fall.  Lord grant me the grace of humility to live out a just life and be completely commited to your call of the Golden rule.  Help me to be mercy to the ignorant so as to enlighten them and bring them to you.  Let it no longer be me who lives, but you who lives in me.

Let us pray for Mr. Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin.  Let us particularaly pray for those Holy Souls in Purgatory for they are nearly home and our love for them as part of the Body of Christ is just like the loaves and fishes Christ was given.

Humility, Mercy, Trust. 

Thank you for all the suffereings both of the mind and body O’ Lord, Your grace is sufficient.

For, Whatever be the will of the Lord, I trust in the’ oh God

+JMJ+

Rorate on the SSPX and what went down last April

Wow...this makes me quite a bit more comfortable with what Francis has been doing in shaking things up a little...still disappointed with his liturgical emancipation garbage, but it will take another 2-3 generations before VII is recognized as being a legitamite council, but one in which the things taught held no real solid authority outside of the things already defined.  Many will say that I am over reacting, that I just refuse development of the faith, but this is a false assertion.  Things like Religious Liberty and the new ecumenical attitude where we dont raise Pius XII to the high altars because the Jews are not comfortable even after he single handidly saved more people of the Jewish race then anyone else in the world, or the placing of being nice to the Orthodox even to the extent of not condemning Communism outright (as what occured for the Russian Orthodox to attend VII).  In the End Her immaculate Heart will triumph, but this could have been easier.  Let us pray for those complicit in trying to build the faith on their own whims.

Pray for the Holy Father for he will face more pressure then we can even imagine...And of course pray for the SSPX that they would not become cold hearted to the Vatican prelates.

+JMJ+

+Our Lady of Fatima, Pray for US!+