Bismarck in Germany, Croce in Italy (according to some), Dewey in America, Lenin in Russia (although he never wrote an article on pedagogy), Rousseau in France, and many others, changed the education systems to the new liberalism, which was both atheistic and humanistic in nature. That the State could determine what a "good citizen" would study, was the agenda of the military strategist or the philosophical pragmatist, who denied the spiritual soul and the life of religion in the cultural, social and political sphere.
We see the results in all the countries of the world, and I burst out laughing when an Englishman, who is a teacher, complained that the Finnish system was successful because it is socialist. The British system has failed because it is socialist.j If Ronald Reagan had succeeded in either reining in or destroying the federal Department of Education, we would not be in quite the mess we are as a Nation.
But, as St. Anselm knew, whose feast day is coming up next week, an educated clergy needed Classical Education; that is the study of the greatest minds of the Classical World, along with religion, philosophy, logic, astronomy, grammar, history, even manners. He invented a system of Classical Education spread through-out the world by the Benedictines until recent times, when they, too, feel into the trap of Bismarckian "gymnasium" and not the "academy".
The Trivium and Quadrivium are not merely quaint educational methodologies, but the basis for Western Education. Without a philosophy of education which is rooted in the soul and spirit of humankind, which has a goal of eternal Truth and Life, education becomes a tool in the hand of those in power, creating a lackluster citizenry easy to overpower. Classical Education created thinkers, a real threat to those who idolize the State.
This is the new slavery and we see it now. Children cannot take control of their own destinies, nor make choices for noble causes, unless they are exceptionally holy. Adults in the West have become mere emotional responders to whatever crisis is at hand, be it economic or social.
The syndicalists, anarchists, communists and socialists have won in many countries in Europe. Watch the elections in France...
Almost ninety years ago, Gramsci wrote the phrase, "the crisis of the West". How is it that Catholics, who created Western Civilization in the Greco-Roman tradition, along with Revelation and the Tradition of the Catholic Church, missed this crisis?
It has been a long time brewing....
Thursday, 19 April 2012
Still hopeful--the time is now for unity
Some bloggers are more cautious than I am about the SSPX news. I am very hopeful and read these statements as moves to get the SSPX members into the mindset of reunion. Some hard-liners will not come into a private or personal prelature, or whatever organization that would be set up, but many would.
This step means that the doors of communication are open. The SSPX members need time to adjust their "outsider" thinking to "insider" thinking. The political climate of Europe which is moving both far-left and far-right quickly (watch the French elections this weekend) will help those who have felt comfortable see the need for a unified Church against both communism and fascism. These are realities which help those who are spiritual see the need for the Institutional Church founded by Christ.
Prayers needed, still. But, hope and pray.
4-18-2012
The media are announcing that Bishop Bernard Fellay has sent a “positive response” to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and that consequently the doctrinal question between the Holy See and the Society of St. Pius X is now resolved.
The reality is different.
In a letter dated April 17, 2012, the Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X responded to the request for clarification that had been made to him on March 16 by Cardinal William Levada concerning the Doctrinal Preamble delivered on September 14, 2011. As the press release dated today from theEcclesia Dei Commission indicates, the text of this response “will be examined by the dicastery (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) then submitted to the Holy Father for his judgment”.
This is therefore a stage and not a conclusion.
Menzingen, April 18, 2012.
Communiqué from the General House of the Society of Saint Pius X (April 18, 2012)
The media are announcing that Bishop Bernard Fellay has sent a “positive response” to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and that consequently the doctrinal question between the Holy See and the Society of Saint Pius X is now resolved.
The reality is different.
In a letter dated April 17, 2012, the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X responded to the request for clarification that had been made to him on March 16 by Cardinal William Levada concerning the Doctrinal Preamble delivered on September 14, 2011. As the press release dated today from the Ecclesia Dei Commission indicates, the text of this response “will be examined by the dicastery (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) then submitted to the Holy Father for his judgement”.
This is therefore a stage and not a conclusion.
Check out that link.....
It is almost like a betrothal, where the big family gets involved and scares the couple into not sharing all the details and wanting space. I am guilty of passing on publicity as well. But, one does get excited at the possibilities.
Persecution towards the Church in Spain from LifeSiteNews Online Yesterday
Brave Bishop in Spain under Attack for the Truth
Liberal outrage in Spain: Homosexual groups seek prosecution of bishop over sermon on homosexuality Matthew Cullinan Hoffman[Image]Wed Apr 18 18:45 EST Faith April 18, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Homosexual groups are seeking the prosecution of a Spanish bishop after he gave a sermon repeating the Catholic Church’s teaching associating the gay lifestyle with the suffering of hell, and then. an interview in which he endorsed psychological treatment for homosexual behavior.Bishop Juan Antonio Reig Plà of the diocese of Alcalá de Henares began the brouhaha on Good Friday earlier this month, when he gave a sermon on the death of the soul as a result of sin.Referring to various kinds of sinful behavior, including adultery, theft, and failure to pay wages to workers, Reig Plà added homosexual behavior to the list as well. With regard to each example of sin, the bishop spoke of the act itself, and the resulting destruction of the soul.With regard to homosexual behavior, Reig Plà said: “One must not corrupt people, not even with false messages. I would like to say a word to those people carried away by so many ideologies that end up failing to properly guide human sexuality. They think that since their childhood they have had an attraction to people of their same sex and, sometimes, to prove it they become corrupt and prostitute themselves or go to homosexual nightclubs. I assure you that (there) they find hell.”After expressions of outrage regarding the bishop’s statement, which reflects the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church on sexual deviance, Reig Plà gave an interview to the Internet news service Religion en Libertad (Religion in Liberty), in which he explained his statement in more detail, and added that homosexual tendencies can be cured through therapy.In contemporary society, we are confronted with “a program of calculated ‘deconstruction’ that is tolerated in every setting (in education from the earliest stages of childhood, in part of the media, in work and leisure, etc.) which additionally includes the promotion and protection of a great number of evil laws and some powerful lobbying groups that determine what is politically correct, and therefore, socially acceptable,” said the bishop.“Based on these factors, many children, adolescents, and adults are increasingly invited to question their sexual identity, and eventually they are urged to ‘verify and prove’ their ‘sexual preferences’, and some fall into the trap,” he added.“Those of us priests who know about the private lives of people, listening to and helping those faithful who request it, know that the consequences for many people are suffering and destruction, coloquially speaking a ‘hell’ in their lives.”Forgiveness and therapy for those who suffer homosexual tendenciesThe bishop pointed out that those who are entangled in the homosexual lifestyle and other forms of sin are not without hope, and can find spiritual healing in the sacraments and teachings of the Catholic Church. Moreover, psychological therapy is available to those who suffer from homosexual tendencies.“Always with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, who proceeds us in everything, it is possible to initiate the journey of return to the House of the Father,” said Reig Plà. “The Church makes available to all the treasures that Christ has deposited in her: the word of God, the sacraments (in particular those of Penance and the Eucharist), prayer, etc.”“With the help of the grace of God and accompanied by priests, counselors, and catechists, and in some cases, by professionals, people with SSA (Same Sex Attraction) can live in chastity (dominion over one’s self); not without combat, but the life of every Christian who wants to live according to the will of God includes fighting against temptation until the very day of death,” he said.Reig Plà noted that both the assessment of homosexual attraction as “intrinsically disordered” and homosexual behavior as “intrinsically evil,” as well as the possibility of therapy for homosexuals, are upheld by the documents of the Catholic Church.“I have to humbly say that everything that I explained in my homily responds to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church,” said the bishop, who noted that the Catechism of the Catholic Church requires that people with homosexual attractions should “be received with respect, compassion, and delicacy” and that “All trace of unjust discrimination regarding them is to be avoided”.However, he noted, the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, under the the then-Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, stated in 1986 that such attractions represent “a tendency, more or less strong, towards a behavior that is intrinsically evil from the moral point of view” and are therefore “objectively disordered.” The Catechism, he added, states that homosexual acts “do not proceed from a true affective and sexual complementarity” and “they cannot receive approval in any case.”Quoting another Vatican document, entitled Human Sexuality: Truth and Meaning, Reig Plà agreed that “parents, for their part, when they notice in their children, at the stage of childhood or adolescence, some manifestation of said tendency or such behavior, should seek out the help of people with expertise and qualifications to give him all possible help” and that “many cases, especially if the practice of homosexual acts has not become deep-rooted, can be positively resolved with appropriate therapy.”
Homosexual and socialist groups seek prosecutionFor his statements upholdingCatholic teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts, a number of homosexual and socialist organizations are denouncing Reig Plà and calling for his prosecution, for “homophobia” and “inciting hate.”The Spanish Confederation of Associations of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transsexuals (COLEGAS) has already presented a formal accusation with Spain’s General Prosecutor, and the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals (FELGTB), with the Gay Collectives of Madrid, have said they also plan to file charges with the Provincial Prosecutor of Madrid for “inciting discrimination and hate,” according to the leftist Spanish newspaper El Pais.COLEGAS additionally claims that therapy for homosexuals “applied generally in the United States as well as in certain European countries, constitute a clear violation of the charter of the Rights of the Child, as well as the most elemental culture of respect for diversity” and asserts that “the Catholic Church cannot continue using the protection of the Constitution as a permanent defense that permits it to promote segregation and discrimination based on positions abandoned long ago by society.”The bishop has received support, however, from Catholic organizations, including the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC), pro-life and pro-family groups such as Spain’s influential Hazte Oir (Make Yourself Heard), and the Catholic blogosphere.For his part, Bishop Reig Plà says he is not backing down.“I don’t want to offend anyone, but I won’t renounce speaking the truth in charity,” he told Religion in Liberty.
Homosexual and socialist groups seek prosecutionFor his statements upholdingCatholic teaching on the immorality of homosexual acts, a number of homosexual and socialist organizations are denouncing Reig Plà and calling for his prosecution, for “homophobia” and “inciting hate.”The Spanish Confederation of Associations of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transsexuals (COLEGAS) has already presented a formal accusation with Spain’s General Prosecutor, and the State Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals (FELGTB), with the Gay Collectives of Madrid, have said they also plan to file charges with the Provincial Prosecutor of Madrid for “inciting discrimination and hate,” according to the leftist Spanish newspaper El Pais.COLEGAS additionally claims that therapy for homosexuals “applied generally in the United States as well as in certain European countries, constitute a clear violation of the charter of the Rights of the Child, as well as the most elemental culture of respect for diversity” and asserts that “the Catholic Church cannot continue using the protection of the Constitution as a permanent defense that permits it to promote segregation and discrimination based on positions abandoned long ago by society.”The bishop has received support, however, from Catholic organizations, including the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC), pro-life and pro-family groups such as Spain’s influential Hazte Oir (Make Yourself Heard), and the Catholic blogosphere.For his part, Bishop Reig Plà says he is not backing down.“I don’t want to offend anyone, but I won’t renounce speaking the truth in charity,” he told Religion in Liberty.
New Age is not the only New Gnosticism. Another post on the dangers of private revelation
St. John of the Cross wrote several poems on the Love of God based on the Song of Songs. Many Catholics have read these poems and wondered how a man can experience the type of almost erotic, but totally pure and exalting in the Goodness of God. Many people misunderstand the intensity of the love which St. John experienced in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. St. John's path to purgatorial suffering and ultimate perfection happened on earth. Like other mystics, he was taken up into the Love Who is God.
Many great writers already quoted on this blog, including Garrigou-Lagrange, believe this is not a call only for those special mystics who are obviously given such graces, but for all Catholics. I say Catholics, as one cannot pursue holiness and the type of purity extended by God unless one is grounded in sound doctrine.
This is a huge misunderstanding of our times. Most Catholics I have met in recent years do not understand that assent to the Teachings of the Catholic Church is the essential ground for the flower of holiness to grow. One who holds heretical ideas, even though the person may not realize his or her errors, cannot move into the life of the virtues and the life of perfection.
There are always a few exceptions, but one reason why the Catholic Church does not canonize men, women and children who are Protestant and "holy", is that their faith was deficient.
In this age of false ecumenism, people, even priests, do not want to accept the fact that heresy, that is the protestant position on anything, means that a person is in need of purgation, of purification in the mind and the imagination, as well as the soul.
If one believes, for example. that one can be absolved from sin merely by talking to Jesus in a room by one's self, there is a serious misunderstanding of the need for the Sacrament of Confession and the role of the Church, through St. Peter, in the forgiveness of sins.
Two ladies in Ireland asked me to help them critique a seer who claims to be seeing Jesus and Mary. I found in a very short period of time, less than an hour, twenty errors of doctrine in the supposed words of Jesus and Mary. The seer repeats doctrines condemned by the Church in the Council of Trent and even before that seminal Council. The seer contradicts some of the encyclicals against Modernist heresies. And yet, even after I shared these errors with four people, the seer was accepted by them as a holy person worthy to be read.
This is Gnosticism, one of the greatest heresies to attack the Church from the earliest days. Gnostics are especially found in Ireland and England, a country where so many Catholics seem to need private revelation instead of a solid course on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
I have written earlier on this blog on the dangers of false seers. I warn all who read this blog that one can lose one's soul by following false prophets. We only need to look at history to see the damage done by those who claimed to have revelation from the Holy Ghost outside the Church. Luther, Zwingli, Knox, Mary Baker Eddy, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Leonardo Boff, Jeremiah Wright, Christina Gallagher, Veronica Leuken and others. Gnosticism is a temptation for those who do not want to study their own faith, the doctrines of the Church and want either a quick way to truth and mystical experiences, or who want to believe they have private knowledge, not given to all.
Dangerous.
St. John of the Cross understood that his experience of Christ as All-Consuming Love was and is available to all, not merely to a chosen few. He knew and taught that the way to Truth and Love was through honesty, humility, complete obedience to the Church, suffering and the denial of self.
The denial of self involves being obedient at all times.
Those good Catholics who follow either those seers already condemned by the Church, or those who are not teaching Church doctrine need to be aware that their own souls are in danger of perdition.
For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. Matthew 14:24, D-R.
There are excellent Catholic people, even those who attend daily Mass and go to weekly Adoration, and frequent Confession, who are wrapped up in false prophecy. My advice is and always will be, compare all things with the Teaching of the Catholic Church and when in doubt, chose the Church's teachings, which are from God, from Christ, and protected by the Holy Spirit. Some of my good Catholic friends are tempted into feeling safe in their salvation and the anxieties of daily life by following these false seers.
Many great writers already quoted on this blog, including Garrigou-Lagrange, believe this is not a call only for those special mystics who are obviously given such graces, but for all Catholics. I say Catholics, as one cannot pursue holiness and the type of purity extended by God unless one is grounded in sound doctrine.
This is a huge misunderstanding of our times. Most Catholics I have met in recent years do not understand that assent to the Teachings of the Catholic Church is the essential ground for the flower of holiness to grow. One who holds heretical ideas, even though the person may not realize his or her errors, cannot move into the life of the virtues and the life of perfection.
In this age of false ecumenism, people, even priests, do not want to accept the fact that heresy, that is the protestant position on anything, means that a person is in need of purgation, of purification in the mind and the imagination, as well as the soul.
If one believes, for example. that one can be absolved from sin merely by talking to Jesus in a room by one's self, there is a serious misunderstanding of the need for the Sacrament of Confession and the role of the Church, through St. Peter, in the forgiveness of sins.
Two ladies in Ireland asked me to help them critique a seer who claims to be seeing Jesus and Mary. I found in a very short period of time, less than an hour, twenty errors of doctrine in the supposed words of Jesus and Mary. The seer repeats doctrines condemned by the Church in the Council of Trent and even before that seminal Council. The seer contradicts some of the encyclicals against Modernist heresies. And yet, even after I shared these errors with four people, the seer was accepted by them as a holy person worthy to be read.
This is Gnosticism, one of the greatest heresies to attack the Church from the earliest days. Gnostics are especially found in Ireland and England, a country where so many Catholics seem to need private revelation instead of a solid course on the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
I have written earlier on this blog on the dangers of false seers. I warn all who read this blog that one can lose one's soul by following false prophets. We only need to look at history to see the damage done by those who claimed to have revelation from the Holy Ghost outside the Church. Luther, Zwingli, Knox, Mary Baker Eddy, Gustavo Gutiérrez, Leonardo Boff, Jeremiah Wright, Christina Gallagher, Veronica Leuken and others. Gnosticism is a temptation for those who do not want to study their own faith, the doctrines of the Church and want either a quick way to truth and mystical experiences, or who want to believe they have private knowledge, not given to all.
Dangerous.
St. John of the Cross understood that his experience of Christ as All-Consuming Love was and is available to all, not merely to a chosen few. He knew and taught that the way to Truth and Love was through honesty, humility, complete obedience to the Church, suffering and the denial of self.
The denial of self involves being obedient at all times.
Those good Catholics who follow either those seers already condemned by the Church, or those who are not teaching Church doctrine need to be aware that their own souls are in danger of perdition.
There are excellent Catholic people, even those who attend daily Mass and go to weekly Adoration, and frequent Confession, who are wrapped up in false prophecy. My advice is and always will be, compare all things with the Teaching of the Catholic Church and when in doubt, chose the Church's teachings, which are from God, from Christ, and protected by the Holy Spirit. Some of my good Catholic friends are tempted into feeling safe in their salvation and the anxieties of daily life by following these false seers.
Gnostic tendencies in a soul are based on pride and ignorance. We do not have to feel or be special to enter Heaven. We only need to be obedient, humble members of the One, True, Holy and Apostolic Church.
The Gnostic psychology involves following a person who seems to have special knowledge from God. There is such a Person and He is Christ, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Who instituted His Church on earth in order to carry on His Truth and Mandate to teach all nations. Only in Christ, through Peter and the successors of Peter, can we be saved. No other special, arcane knowledge will save us, but instead, do the opposite and take us away from the Truth.
Any visionary which adds to Revelation is in error. Revelation ended with the Book of Revelations. An visionary who undermines the Sacraments or the Priesthood is in error. Any visionary who claims private knowledge outside of the teachings of the Catholic Church is in error. Any visionary who takes money or makes money from his or her followers is a false prophet. Any visionary who contradicts a bishop or a priest, or even the Pope, is in error. And, suffering is not an automatic sign of holiness. It can be rooted in pride.
St. John of the Cross was persecuted by his own order, by his own fellow religious. He never left the Church. He stayed close to the Scriptures and the Tradition of the Catholic Church. He is our example to follow to the experiences of Love. He leads us back to Christ. He is firmly within the Church. Such are the saints....
There are reasons for the canonization process and the process of reading the works of those who seem holy. There are reasons why we must obey a bishop or a tribunal, even if we may disagree with the findings. Disagreement should cause the lay person to pray and study, especially study the Scriptures and the Teachings of the Church. Too many Catholics, both liberal and Gnostic claim they do not have to believe either "trad" bishops or "liberal bishops". Obedience is the key to all other virtues. Without obedience, one cannot even start the long road to holiness. Anything less than understanding and accepting Church doctrine is willful disobedience. Read, study, pray....