Pro-Life in Ireland

I shall get back to less provincial posts, but as I am in Ireland, I thought it was important to share with Catholics the real status of the Church here, both in the clergy and in the laity.

The pro-life movement here is practically non-existent, despite the fact that the Irish government want to introduce abortion and the fact that here, at this center in Dublin, a woman can get any anti-life advice and products she desires. At this, Marie Stopes Clinic, the morning after pill, an abortifacient, is available. I talked with six Irish adults who are Latin Mass Catholics, who did not know this. Why? Why are so many Irish in denial as to what is happening right under their noses, and blocks away from their churches?

The Irish problem with pro-life is a three-fold problem. As an American Catholic who has seen pro-life movements in many states and been involved a bit both in England and in the States, I can spot the problems.

One, the laity do not organize themselves here readily. There is no grass-roots political movements. When I lived and worked in Missouri, the pro-life movement, which is strong and vibrant, was organized both at the diocesan level and at the parish levels, by the laity. This is OUR JOB. We are the ones who have babies and families and pass on the pro-life message to the next generation.

To blame the priests is a lame excuse for the lack of political activity. It is shameful for adults to blame their priests for their own lack of activism.

Second, the larger Catholic community here is in denial as to the abortion machine in Ireland and continually blame the European Union for laws or clinics. No, the youth and even the middle-aged Catholic woman wants contraception. I saw this is Malta as well, where the birthrate is 1.2 babies per woman, proving that the 98% of women who claim to be Catholic are not.

In Ireland, there is a myth about the Catholic in the pew, which must be faced if real evangelization is to occur. I can see that Catholics are in denial about the pain about the apostasy, pretending it doesn't matter that their children do not go to Mass, live with their partners and contracept.

Third, and this is most serious, without pointing to any names, or parties, the pro-life movement is too connected to the Republican movement. This must end. I cannot believe that strong pro-lifers blame Great Britain for the secularization of the Irish Republic, thinking wrongly that if all of the island was united, there would be no abortion or contraception. This is false, for the reasons stated above. Republicanism is a disease, which blinds the eyes and hardens the heart. The pro-life movement must be freed from any influences and be international, a universal Catholic movement, joining Catholics and Christians who are pro-life. This is the strength of Truth. In addition, the Catholics are not more holy or more pure than their Protestants brothers and sisters. The secularization and materialism of the younger generations proves this.

God must bring some lay men and women to the fore who are freed from the hatred, yes, hatred of the past and move on in order to have a strong pro-life movement in Ireland.

It is a question of forgiveness, which I wrote about months ago. Unless the Irish Catholic gets over the past, there will be no future for the Catholic Church in Ireland. And, the Eucharistic Congress is a misguided attempt, as I noted below, of a false ecumenism. Only the realization that one must work in differences and with differences, can the pro-life movement work here. One cannot deny the Catholic connections, nor can one exclude Protestants. God help all the babies destroyed today and their mothers and fathers. God help the pro-life movement in Ireland.

So, marriage is important for society after all....(us little, old Catholics knew this); October 21, 1911

Dr. Sanity is on a roll, but then, she is the voice of reason in the blog-sphere. Catholics, check out this video and her link. And, I dedicate this to Blessed Karl and Zita, and all my dear friends who are married.....

The Fractio

IBERA nos, quaesumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis, praeteritis, praesentibus, et futuris: et intercedente beata et gloriosa semper Virgine Dei Genitrice Maria, cum beatis Apostolis tuis Petro et Paulo, atque Andrea, et omnibus Sanctis, da propitius pacem in diebus nostris: ut ope misericordiae tuae adjuti, et a peccato simus semper liberi, et ab omni perturbatione securi. 

ELIVER us, we beg Thee, O Lord, from every evil, past, present, and to come; and by the intercession of the Blessed and glorious ever-Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and of the holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, and of Andrew, and of all the Saints, mercifully grant peace in our days, that through the assistance of Thy mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all disturbance

The priest then breaks the Host and says,

Per eumdem Dominum nostrum Jesus Christum Filium tuum. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus.

Through the same Jesus Christ, They Son, our Lord. Who with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth God.

This, the fractio, or the fraction, is my favorite part of the Mass after the Consecration. The poignant breaking of the Consecrated Host fills me with sadness and dread.

This action is to imitate the breaking of the Bread, the Body of Christ by Christ at the Last Supper. However, for me, this is the breaking of Christ's Own Body in the Passion, and the breaking of His People, the Church, into different groups. The pain of the fraction, in Late Latin, fractio, is the pain of the Broken Christ. It is, at this moment, that I can see the betrayal of Judas breaking Christ's Heart, the horrible, fake trial, the scourging, the crowning of thorns,the long road to Calvary, the execution by crucifixion all in that small gesture. In addition, I see the Protestant Revolt, those killed in Germany, the martyrs of England, Scotland and Wales, and even today's persecuted brothers and sisters in Egypt, Nigeria, Somalia, Indonesia, China, and I see the broken bodies of the babies after abortions.

The fractio resounds, When the priest breaks the Host and I hear the break, the sound rings out not only in the Church but down through the ages to the ruining of Fountains and Glastonbury, to the fires of Nero's Rome, to the very steps of the Praetorium in Jerusalem in 33 A.D.

And, today, on this Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, was he not broken of hatred, pride and false fanaticism? Are we not broken and humbled in order to be with Our Lord?

The fractio continues, daily, hourly, in every Catholic Church in the world. Christ is being broken over and over and over again. This is His Redemptive Act for us. We must enter into His suffering, becoming part of that fractio, now and forever until we are renewed in the Land of the Everlasting Joy, Heaven.


And, as a postscript, frequently, at least three times a week, I am given the half of the broken Host which the priest has held up for all to see-Ecce Homo. I feel part of that ministry to support priests in anyway that I can, and I pray daily for priests and seminarians. God bless you all.

As an ex-Illinois resident, I am not surprised...

Mirror of Justice, on my blog list, should be checked out daily. This is a snippet of a comment on the recent blast of war trumpets against the Catholics' freedom of conscience by POTUS. Robert George posted this at the end of his entry.

Pro-life citizens, including many Catholics, who in 2008 allowed themselves to be persuaded that Obama wouldn't, as his critics warned, push abortion hard and run roughshod over the religious liberty and rights of conscience of Catholics and other pro-life citizens and their institutions, have now gotten a rude awakening. His administration revealed its contempt for religious freedom and the rights of people and communities of faith when it embraced an extreme and utterly untenable position on the ministerial exemption in the Hosanna-Tabor case.  In case anyone thought that was some sort of isolated mistake, the President's abortifacient and contraception mandate leaves the matter in no doubt.

In 2012, it is no longer possible to sustain illusions about what Obama and his people mean to do to us. They are already doing it.  "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."

Losing Religious Freedom in the United States

This is too horrible to pass up. The Federal Government today announced two things. First, birth control pills will be free to all women in the States. Second, religious institutions must pay for birth control pills  The Washington Times story included this quotation: The decision is “a radical incursion into freedom of conscience,” said Deirdre McQuade, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “Never before in U.S. history has the federal government forced citizens to purchase directly what violates their beliefs.”

and

Representing some 600 hospitals, the Catholic Health Association expressed disappointment.
and
Workplace health plans will have to cover all forms of contraception approved by the Food and Drug Administration, ranging from the pill to implantable devices to sterilization. Also covered is the morning-after pill, which can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex and is considered as tantamount to an abortion drug by some religious conservatives.


This is an assault of the freedom of conscience for millions of Americans and for those institutions, such as colleges and universities which do not pass out abortifacients. All I can say is that those Catholics who voted for Obama in 2008 brought this upon the Church. This is the tyranny of the Left. (see Gramsci post below). One brave bishop prophesied this years ago and told Catholics if they voted for Obama, they had to consider their salvation. Click here.

The Ultimate Failure of Transformational Marxists

Some of you have wondered when I was going to write my anti-Gramsci articles here. Well, here is the first of many. I wrote on this before many years ago and now it is time to dig in and get dirty on this blog. Here is where some of my information is from, but not all, as some is my own construct over the years. Also, there is another link below for summaries.There are many sites on Gramsci if one wants a bibliography, I can send one on request. But, the letters are key. Just remember that the key to understanding all of this is that the ideology is based on materialism, that there is no spiritual world. The old Marxism is not exactly the same as Gramsci's ideas, except in the denial of the spiritual and the emphasis on pragmatism, but that denial of a spiritual hierarchy is key. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, "Communism is based on a materialistic and humanistic view of life and history. According to Communist theory, matter, not mind or spirit, speaks the last word in the universe. Such a philosophy is avowedly secularistic and atheistic. Under it, God is merely a figment of the imagination, religion is a product of fear and ignorance, and the church is an invention of the rulers to control the masses. Moreover, Communism, like humanism, thrives on the grand illusion that man, unaided by any divine power, can save himself and usher in a new society--"

Gramsci wrote that "the mode of being of the new intellectual can no longer consist in eloquence … but in active participation in practical life, as constructor, organiser, "permanent persuader" and not just a simple orator…"  See above. Here is where the Chomskyites and Alinskyites come in. with grass roots political and social activism. But, there is more...The intellectuals were not merely to be in academia, or politics, but everywhere, changing the philosophical roots of the culture from within. Again, the emphasis is on pragmatism and what works in the relationships between people and groups of people,such as labor unions. However, what actually binds people together to want to do things together is a less than satisfactory explanation, being basically the historical context of "subjectivism", lacking any hierarchical ideology and denying any universals. In other words, humans create their own reality which changes constantly in history and context. This is a variation of the heresy of immanentism, which states that there is no God outside of man, and leads to the complete denial of God. Of course, if all meaning and history are created by humans, there is no God or plan outside the temporary. Historicism is a combination of immanentism and false progressivism or evolutionism, all condemned by Pope St. Pius X in his encyclical against Modernism (Star-Trek theories). Simplified here and here.

Gramsci also wrote of what he called his idea of infiltrating the media, the Church, journalism, schools, universities, the judiciary and so on. In the posting below on Levin a day ago, one can see how this has happened in government and political theory.  Georg Lukacs, Gramsci's follower, was the one who came up with the idea of sex education as undermining Christianity in the culture. One can see that in Ireland today, with the push to end Catholicism in schools. This has already happened in England. These ideas have been part of the elite of education in America, in Great Britain and now, in Ireland since the 1950s. By placing anti-Christian curricula in the schools such as anti-abstinence and pro-homosexuality, the Christian, and specifically, the Catholic religion would be destroyed in the culture. Now, this is mainstream. In addition, Latin and Greek were to be removed from the curricula, so that the continuity of Catholic and Western culture would be destroyed. All this has happened. It happened a long time ago when my brothers were in high school, and now they are in their early fifties. They did not get Classical Education. Some of these references are here.

I had Classical Education, including Latin, and world history, as well as Church history, logic, ethics, civics, Plato, Aristole, etc.  I was in the last generation to get the pre-Gramsci education, which was based on the Jesuits and on the Catholic-based Western Civilization. The destruction is now all but complete. All this was done in the name of "democracy" and the destruction of elitism. Anyone who decries elitism is a Gramscian at heart. In the early 2000s, I had a little business as a curriculum consultant, helping schools either move back to Classical Education or created new schools in this mode. Many people did this at the college level, like the founders of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, or Wyoming Catholic, or Thomas More College. It works. Young people learn how to think and how to preserve the beauty of Western Civilization. They discern the Marxist fallacy of class warfare in the present milieu and the nihilism of Post-Modernism. 

A drop in the ocean, I am afraid, are these efforts, as the powers that be are outlawing independence in education and outlawing home schooling. Look at developments this week in Sweden. The term "social engineering" has come to mean many things, but in academia and in politics, it means the appropriation of Gramsci and Lukacs' ideals of infiltration and destruction, of the emphasis on the pragmatic and not the person. In the construction of a new society based on relationships, this destruction of frameworks of relationship seems counter-productive. But, for Gramsci, humans are capable of inter-relating without religion or even metaphysics of any kind. I always wonder when reading this why people would bother to work for such a society.

Why? Because these men hate the Church and Western Civ, they set out to destroy both, knowing what Belloc so succinctly wrote that  "The Faith is Europe and Europe is the Faith."  Thanks to Gramsci and others, like Kant, we barely have the Faith and we barely have Europe....Gramscians deny that he intended to destroy culture, but I cannot see that his explanations and plans mean anything but that as a consequence of human activity to set up a society without Faith or the culture based on that Faith. Herein lies a paradox in Gramsci.

When I met my first true follower of Gramsci he said to me. "One cannot be a scholar and a Catholic." The implication was that only those who had thrown off the tyranny of the teaching of the Church, of Aquinas, Bonaventure, Augustine, even Maritain or Gilson, could one think. Not so, as Gramsci himself needed the past to resconstruct or rather desconstruct Western society. He relied on the writings of some of the "great books", the same he seemed to decry. The Gramscian error lies in the fact that the Marxist has just accepted another ideology in place of the teachings of the Catholic Church, and one more illogical and self-serving than that of the Church. Gramsci's emphasis on intellectuals and activists leading society away from the Church and Western Civilization just replaces one ideal system for his own. The error lies in the denial of the basic premises of natural law philosophy and the desire of the human will for freedom from social engineering. Over and over, he writes about historicism, mentioned above, the idea that humans get their identity from societal relationships and not from nature. In this sense, Gramsci is the arch-relativist, the grave error of the American educational systems today. He is a relativist also in so far as he does not believe in the absolute materialism of the Marxist, but a created, practical materialism. This pragmatism may be where one sees Gramsci being influenced by Machiavelli, the ultimate pragmatist. However, even with relativism or utilitarianism,  a backlash comes eventually and the backlash is barbarism. The only idea that has historically changed the barbarian is Christianity.

The reason why barbarism is the ultimate failure of Gramsci's desire for atheistic communism is that the lowest common denominator of a human mode of being emerges from the death of the West.  Communism and historicism fall to the armies of complete selfish, narcissistic individuals who only think of themselves and not the common good. Ergo, the Russian mafia. There is no longer a common good. There is no state to adore. This is complete Post-modernist deconstructionism and nihilism. In the post-society, the only remaining ideals are the death-wish and the desire for power. Interestingly enough, Gramsci was against worship of the state and believed that the proletariat could rule without such an organization. He thought that a regulated society could rule itself-this is the false ideal of utopianism, see post below on Levin's book. Order does not spring out of mere pragmatism. In fact, I would state that relativism and atheistic anarchy comes out of utilitarianism. Here is the difference between Michelle and POTUS. She is a true Alinksy activist and he is a narcissist. However, they both fall into the Gramsci camp of relativism.

Sadly, all of the idealism of the Gramscian falls to the neo-barbarians desires for personal, physical satisfaction and the death-wish. What Gramsci and his followers fail to take into consideration is raw evil, or Evil, if one can be so primitive as to believe, as I do , that Evil is a Person, who is pure spirit. The idealism of the Marxist or neo-Marxist cannot stand up against the greed and hatred of the world, the flesh and the devil. It doesn't matter in the long run, as the Marxist, as well as Evil, desires the destruction of the West and the Catholic Church. Marxism undoes itself by unleashing deeper powers, such as one understands in the dabbling of the occult. There is always something under the atheism and narcissism. But, those who deny the spiritual world. those who are complete materialists, overlook this important concept. In that spiritual world is found naked power. In the praxis of history and human activity, as described by Gramsci, there is no accounting for this evil. However, evil exists. It states, "Non serviam" I will not serve. Jeremiah 2:20--"Of old time thou hast broken my yoke, thou hast burst my bands, and thou saidst: I will not serve. For on every high hill, and under every green tree thou didst prostitute thyself."

That is what the neo-barbarians understand. Naked power does not need an ideology in order to succeed. Power just wants power. However, the good news is that such power undoes itself. It self-destructs over and over again. That is the nature of evil-it cannot create, it can only destroy. But, destroy, it does.

As I am a teacher still...look at these great articles

Look at the great article on feminism as a heresy at Crisis, one of the links on my bloglist. And, I am sure all you out there know to click on the colored links in the posts here for articles. Also, there is an excellent series on the Eastern Catholic Rites, The Other Successors of Peter: The Patriarchs of Antioch, as well as Requiem for the Third See of Christendom and We Are Non-Roman Catholics.. This series is by one of my favorites, Robert Spencer and I am so glad to see Crisis picking up on his work.

Open Letter to Some of My Traditional Seminarian Friends in America and on the Continent of Europe

I write to you in the States and to those on the Continent of Europe. I do not write to those in Great Britain as there is more of an acceptance of individual talents and interests which allows for a healthier seminary experience. But, for those who are upset 24/7, here is some maternal advice.

The reason why you feel emotional about the Latin Mass and cannot be peaceful, is that you are in an adversarial climate.  It is very unhealthy to be in battle mode all the time. In an atmosphere of liberalism and modernism in the Catholic Church in the seminary or even in your parish, it would be too easy to fall into a mind-set of being against and anti-authoritarian all the time. This becomes a habit of mind, which is very unhealthy.

One does not need to be in a mode of defense or even of apologetics all the time. If one is constantly in a "fight or flight" mode, one cannot be creative, cannot learn, and most importantly, cannot love.

Yes, some of us are called to be prophets, like Jeremiah or John the Baptist, but they knew the love, the piercing, cleansing love of God in their lives which kept them grounded. This is what you need, to focus on the Love of Christ and His Mother and less on the evils in the Church. You are called to the Order of Melchizedek, not to the order of prophets. One in a million priests are called to public prophecy. Melchizedek was the King of Salem, the King of Peace.

You will not grow into the loving, kind and prudent gentleman and priest God wants you to be if you are constantly fighting. Even soldiers get battle fatigue and emotional problems because they are on guard against the enemy all the time. I do not mean merely "r and r" , a vacation, but a presence of mind which is positive and living in the grace of God, which always reaches out to those who need Him. The presence of mind is living in the Present Moment of Brother Lawrence, in that simple book, The Practice of the Presence of God. I recommend this.

I am not advocating false, nicey nicey love or a false tolerance of evil. No, I am talking about you finding that still center of your soul where you can work out of peace instead of turmoil and the adversarial mode. One must live and work in peace and not in turmoil.

All of this is in the Will. If you decide to follow peace, the emotions will follow.

I have learned not to live in this mindset and here are some tips from my experience, which is like others.

Number one, be absolutely honest with yourself and others at all times. Never allow deceit of any kind into your life. If you are clear, you will avoid turmoil. Deceit divides. Honesty unites. 

Number two, look for the common ground even with your "opponents". There is always some place where we can start a discussion rather than have an argument if we can find that common ground. If this seems totally impossible, we pray for insight.

Number three, respect yourself, me, others, all men and women, even if they seem like they do not deserve respect. All of us are sinners and all men and women have the dignity as sons and daughters of God, even if we cannot see this. St. Paul's admonition that we have all fallen short of the glory of God should be in our minds constantly.

Number four, pray to see the suffering Christ in those who oppose the Latin Mass. Christ is suffering in that person who hates the Mass, either through serious sin, bad teaching, ignorance, or corruption of mind. Pray and fast. Do not judge.

Number five, realize that the adversarial mode is unhealthy not only for you but for your opponents. You make them more obstinate if you pursue Truth without Love. Love and Truth, even tough love, go together. Tough love is real love, love with honesty. If someone starts an argument, defuse the situation gently but firmly. 

Number six, pray about your role in the Church. Very few priests are called to hard prophecy. I think that is the role of the laity. John the Baptist was not called to be a priest. A priest is called to minister to those whom God loves, His People. If you have a vocation to the priesthood, do not follow the way of the prophet at this time during your studies, but be more humble and wait. Prudence is knowing when and where to speak a truth, even about the Latin Mass.

Number seven, focus on what you are supposed to be doing now, your duty. I think you must actively and strenuously pursue your vocation. Do not get sidetracked. Go back to Latin studies, read the Doctors of the Church and the Early Church Fathers. You have many years of preparation and that is what your focus should be. Learn to learn on your own and not rely on false teaching. Make sure you match everything up to the glorious teaching of the Catholic Church. Rejoice in the beauty of these teachings. Say your Office, say your rosary. Live in the now.

Number eight, pick your battles. Wisdom is knowing when to speak and when to be silent. We do not have to be seen as being "right" all the time. That is intellectual pride. If something is important enough to fight, fine, but this should be the exception rather than the rule. 

Number nine, learn boundaries. Your generation does not know psychological boundaries because of the public sharing of information and because of the lack of manners. Not everyone has to know everything about you and your life. Boundaries protect your soul and mind, and create healthy relationships.

Number ten, remember your First Love. The reason why you are pursuing the priesthood is because God has called you and you have answered "yes". You are in a relationship with the Living God, who is your First Love. All else flows from that.

Number eleven, be patient. I know that it is in the nature of youth to be impatient for change. Learn patience.

Number twelve, be more patient. 

God bless you.

Illiteracy and religion, plus one of my favorite books

I have been doing a mini-study for an article on illiteracy in 2012. I noticed something very interesting...Note the countries with the lowest literacy rates in the world and, you tell me what they have in common? Does Christianity help education and one's standard of living? Good Socratic Method involves asking questions. Data is from the CIA World Factbook.

1 Niger 84.3%

2 Burkina Faso 77.%

3 Afghanistan 63.7%

4 Sierra Leone 63.7%

5 Gambia 63.5%

6 Guinea-Bissau 62.7%

7 Senegal 62.7%

8 Benin 62.5%

9 Ethiopia 61.3%

10 Mauritania 60.1%

The following book should be read by every Catholic educator and all homeschooling moms and dads.

This book, along with the ideas of Maria Montessori, literally, changed my life.

Two Real Men from Cabrini-Green-on victim thinking

One of the reasons, and there are many, why I left academia, was this prevalence of victim thinking. Thankfully, if the "cases" in the college classroom became particularly obstructive to the class as a whole, I had the entire backing of the administration. One of the most wonderful people on the staff was a man who had grown up, yes, in the Cabrini-Green estates. Let just say he grew up in hell. His mother had two sons and she instilled in them the love of learning and the love of God-a Benedictine ideal, but as a Baptist, this wonderful woman was following her grace and role as a mom, and being counter-cultural in her little, no big, way.

My friend, Adam, said that all the kids around him were learning how to deal drugs, kill and be killed. Out of all his friends in Cabrini-Green, all but his brother, are either dead or in prison for life. I asked him to come into my class and give a motivational talk to my 26 students, most of whom were immersed in victim thinking and/or narcissism. He did not succeed inspiring anyone but me. The ho-hum attitude was like jelly being smeared all over the classroom. Dull and icky. However, Adam was not upset, and offered to come into the class again. Later, one young man, who wants to be a sports-trainer, came back to me and said it was "cool", a word still used in the Midwest.

Well, Adam, his brother, and his mom are heroes against the Post-Modernism malaise filling our country. The fact that the Cabrini-Green estates were ever built was an example of false utopianism. Such estates just put all the baddies in one place-how convenient. Oh, and for my European friends, or those few saints who have seen The Blues Brothers at least five times, C-G was in Chicago.

Victim thinking will destroy America as it has destroyed Britain. British youth, except for a golden minority, belong to what I call the Grape Generation-step on them lightly and they give a little whine...

The last Cabrini-Green estate was demolished in the past year. At least two heroes emerged, and I hope more. But, there exists two, strong, Christian men, Adam and Joshua, with a message. A person is responsible for his own life and he can break out from victim-hood, if he wants to do so.

Open Letter to the Knights of St. John, the Knights of Malta

I wrote this open letter to the Knights of St. John, the Knights of Malta. There is a crisis of liturgy happening in Malta at this time, more developments which I am tracking and will share on this blog. Some of you might think, who cares, as it is such a small nation and what effect will events or attitudes there have on me? Malta is the gateway to the East. It is only 220 miles of so from Libya. The Great Siege was a miracle of grace in its victory. . One cannot walk over those tombs day after day in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, and not be moved by the bravery and commitment of so many men. I am not stating that they were all saints, as we know from history, but we need the intercession of those who stand before God in Heaven.

Dear Knights of St. John,

For two months, when I visited Malta, as I attended Holy Mass, I daily walked on the marble which covers the dust of the great heroes of Malta. With the limited knowledge of Latin that I know, I read of the deeds, charity, and deaths of the old and even the very young who died for a cause greater than themselves. As I prayed for those holy souls who still needed mercy and to those saints who intercede for Malta, I felt as if the dead were reaching up from those vaults into the life that is the Church and pleading for a renewal of the vital energy which they commanded when on earth. Those Knights gave of themselves in sacrifices which modern men and women rarely conceive. Their lives were reflected in their deaths. Some died on the battlefield, some in the hospitals of the Order, some in the peace of their palaces. Yet, their days of violence and prayer produced fruit which lasted throughout the centuries, until this present day. What impressed me was their love of the Church, the Bride of Christ, and their love of the Pontiff, the Bridge between Christ and us, the Pope.

These men were not afraid. Their fearlessness to stand up for the Faith, in a manner which now seems foolish and over-zealous to some, is needed as much today as in the days of the Great Siege. The Church is under the greatest siege She has ever seen since those days of bloodshed. The persecution is more subtle, but as dangerous and as deadly as then. As our dear Pope recently stated, the Enemy is within. The Enemy of the Church is a protean being which changes like a chameleon to capture the hearts and minds of the Faithful, turning goodness into mediocrity, and labelling sin as normal. One of the greatest evils is the mindless disobedience to Rome in matters regarding the Liturgy. Holy Mother Church has been given the Pearl of Great Price. This Pearl in the Tridentine Mass, the Traditional Latin Mass offered up for centuries in the very Co-Cathedral which houses the dust of those who died preserving that heritage. Today, I wonder whether the Knights of St. John realize that the real resurrection of the Faith, in Truth and Beauty can only happen with the renewal of the Traditional Latin Mass? The holiness of the past cannot be relied upon in story or in fiction. The past is only a primary structure, a foundation for the future. If those who followed the brave and the bold settle for what is less than perfect, settle for the easy and the mediocre, the building which is the Kingdom of God on earth cannot stand.

Why do I make this connection between the Knights and the Traditional Latin Mass? The ancient words of Consecration, the silence of the Canon, the unspeakable Beauty of the Chant created a sublime experience for all,even those who were illiterate. Today, we in the Church are in great need for a challenge to the ugliness of sin. We need chevaliers who would die for the Glory of God. For me, and for our present Pope, this Glory is seen in the Liturgy which feeds the mind, the heart, and the soul in ways which are not even understood. Yet, the Knights of St. John, whose Patron is the Greatest of Men, as Christ Himself stated, and who is the Greatest Prophet, those very Knights fail in the prophetic role which Pope Benedict XVI has presented to the world. The motu proprio of July 2007, Summorum Pontificum  is not only ignored, but blatantly suppressed in Malta. Why? And, where are the champions who would be obedient and see the necessity for this Great Gift in the face of a crumbling culture? I challenge the Knights to renew their allegiance to Rome by championing this one Gift-the Tridentine Mass. 

One might say to me, who are you to challenge the Knights? It is not my challenge, but that of the Church. The old Latin phrase, lex orandi, lex credendi, how we worship is how we believe, is the reason that Pope Benedict instituted the motu proprio. He merely carried out the words of Vatican II, in The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy section 36, that Latin was to be maintained but the vernacular allowed. 

Why the Traditional Mass is so important is not merely that the Church wishes to preserve the sacred language of ritual, but that the People of God are lifted out of the ordinariness of the daily life of sin and anxiety into a Mystery of Faith which defies explanation. The great mystery of Transubstantiation was one of the causes for which the Knights of old died. Rather than deny the True Presence, rather than deny the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity and His Representative on Earth, the Pope, they fought to the death. And, here, in the Co-Cathedral, we have a testimony to their awareness of the Truth and their courage to defy convention and ease, acceptance and perhaps, slavery, facing what few in our times would even consider, that is to die for Truth and Beauty.

If I seem presumptuous in challenging the Knights, it is because I passionately love the Church, and the Tridentine Mass. I am convinced that Malta, like a child dying from malnutrition, needs the New Evangelization called for by Blessed John Paul II. And, I am convinced that the Traditional Catholic Mass will lead to the revitalization of real Faith among the Maltese, who, like the Church of Ephesus, are being addressed by Christ, Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp-stand from its place. Revelation 2:4-5

Knights were made for battle, not for honors or status, or pageantry. The battle is raging. 

Did Christ engage in black and white thinking?

During these political times, I have been pondering the idea of black and white thinking. This led me to look at the words of Christ, Who does seem to use black and white rhetoric. Can we make a distinction between black and white rhetoric and black and white thinking? It was extremely important to the Jews that Christ spoke to the Pharisees and Sadducee in absolutes, as that was part of their rhetorical style of teaching. Ron Paul says things which alienate the larger part of the Republican structure, but most people who have come over to him like his way of speaking in black and white terms--the straight talker, like George Bush, or Davy Crockett. Some people who would never vote for him demand that his language be seen as raising issues in absolute terms in order for those issues to be taken seriously. If you make a black and white statement, people may tend to respect you even if they do not agree with you. You would seem like a honest person.

As a teacher, I moved away from such statements and moved into the Socratic Method, which is based on questions, an approach which Christ also used as part of the Rabbinic way of teaching.

But, black and white rhetoric is not the same as black and white thinking. We live mostly in areas of tepid grays. Such b and w thinking is the fallacy of the false dilemma. We must say that as human beings our truth is limited by our perceptions, and our checks and balances, which is Revelation and Tradition in the Catholic Church, help us understand and clarify the grays. These "checks and balances" are one reason I am Catholic. We have a reasonable religion, unlike some based on fear or emotion, which allows for discussion and understanding our Faith to a point.

One of the reasons there are such divisions in the American culture is because of black and white thinking-I saw this last year in the disputes in Wisconsin regarding the budget repair bill. Even such movements as the occupy and anarchist movements are begun and inflamed by black and white thinking. So, how as Catholics do we fall into the fallacy of false dilemma? Christ did say "He that is not with me, is against me: and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth."Matthew 12:30 But, Christ, because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life does offer only one alternative to salvation. He is God.

What we must do is put on the Mind of Christ. Too many Christians do not think like Christians. They think like pagans or secularists or practical atheists. Americans talk and think big, compared to older cultures, which appreciate subtlety in rhetoric. This is an art, but how is big talk or subtle talk in keeping with the Mind of Christ? We must communicate slowly and carefully so that we can understand the thought of those whom we are evangelizing, or even convincing to our political position. Have we lost the art of communicating the Mind of Christ, and if we are not thinking like Christ, can we communicate the Good News? In good Socratic Method, I am asking more questions here than answering. 


I think the answer is simply becoming like Christ, living in and with Christ, allowing Him, as Ignatius states, to take all one's memory, understanding, and will. Only in the mystery of allowing the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit purifying the mind and imagination, the memory, and the will, do we grow in holiness. The dying of self, or to self, allows us to think and act like Christ. Then, the dilemma is solved. We can speak in black and white terms, but think without judging. This does not mean that we tolerate evil, but that we love beyond the actions of individuals. Therefore, we can communicate the Mind of Christ. To be continued..as one cannot confuse this Love with tolerating any type of evil. "But I have against thee a few things: because thou sufferest the woman Jezabel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach, and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat of things sacrificed to idols." Revelations 2:20

Hello and Thanks for All the Fish

Welcome back to my blog. I was active for several years in 2007-2009 and now I am back. I say "Thanks for all the fish" because I feel like I am on a different planet than when I was blogging not that long ago. At that time, I was living in Ventura, Ca., and then, Iowa. Now I am in Europe. The viewpoint is refreshingly and disturbingly different, of course.

If I am going to help all of us understand the political or religious events around the world, pertaining to the Traditional Mass, the Post-Vatican II and Post-Modernist movements, there is no place better than sitting in a small room in Ireland or on a veranda in Malta overlooking the detritus of Western Civilization as it crumbles before my eyes.

I hope my former students and colleagues will find this blog useful. If not, I know that there are hundreds of fantastic blogs out in the blogosphere to help us all maintain some sanity. May God bless us all and may the patron saint of the Internet, St. Isidore of Seville, who, as patron, is also a complicated topic, bless all my commentators.