A.R.A.S.

There is a little known psychological syndrome which is common among some Christian brothers and sisters of the Baptist denomination, or other varieties of Protestants, known as A.R.A.S.

A.R.A.S. begins, as I understand from sufferers, about the age of reason. It is connected vaguely to the "Home Alone" movies which some of these brethren saw at impressionable ages. Children wake in the middle of the night in cold sweats, listening for small noises in the dark.

This syndrome causes others to play horrible jokes on the sufferers, jokes which exacerbate the illness.

These jokes involve laying a set of clothing, sock and shoes on the ground, dramatically drawing out one of the fears connected to the syndrome.

The full name of the anxiety-driven syndrome, which can only be cured by conversion to the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church is After the Rapture Anxiety Syndrome.

The intense fear and concurrent anxiety is caused by the overwhelming belief that one has been left behind after the rapture.

I have talked with former sufferers of this horrible fear and the anxieties of damnation and loneliness, who explained to me that only their conversion to Catholicism and the awareness that the Rapture was a Protestant aberration of truth-a heretical position-relieved them of the pain.

Sometimes, a teddy bear companion helped relieve symptoms. The cure is much more drastic. Total conversion.

Sigh, I am so glad I am a Catholic.

Contraception Five

A pastor from a church far way told a friend of mine that if he talked about contraception from the pulpit, he would lose most of his congregation. Why not? Why is he afraid of challenging his parish with the Truth? Is this a numbers game for him? Does he understand that his silence is consent and leads to the loss of faith and even souls?

I am writing about contraception because I have been in conversation with some people about this issue this week.

The number of contracepting Catholics remains one of the most serious statistics of our times.

I am not referring to non-Catholics in these statistics. Only Catholics. For the Millennial Catholics, this means that the vast majority of people who are in their parishes will not be practicing Catholics. To contracept is to be in serious sin. What does this mean for the local communities, for socializing, for bringing up your children among those who have, basically, lost their faith?

What does it mean for those who are trying to live by the teachings of the Church and do NFP? Where is their support? How do these good and faithful young couples develop great friendships when the marriages are not based on the same principals and ideals?

I do not doubt these statistics, as my experience talking with women is that the vast majority do contracept. I do not doubt these statistics having worked in RCIA for years and knowing that this topic was the big stumbling block for so many couples coming into the Church.

I have to admit, that the older women who have contracepted all their married life are the most difficult  with whom to discuss this issue. They get angry and defensive. They are convinced contraception will eventually be accepted by the Church.

They are not open. If they were open, they would be willing to discuss all the aspects.

http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9990

“Data for the report come from the 2006–2008 National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), which gathered information on contraceptive use from a nationally representative sample of women,” the Guttmacher Institute stated in “Countering Conventional Wisdom: New Evidence on Religion and Contraceptive Use.” “Our analysis focuses on women who identify as Catholic,  Mainline Protestant and Evangelical Protestant and includes information about attendance at religious services and religiosity.”

Among the report’s findings-- all of which refer to women of reproductive age (15-44):

25% describe themselves as Catholic, 25% as evangelical, and 22% as mainline Protestant

30% of Catholic women attend Mass weekly, while 50% of evangelicals and 24% of mainline Protestants worship weekly

46% of Catholic women say religion is very important to their daily lives, compared to 77% of evangelicals and 44% of mainline Protestants

98% of Catholic women-- and 99% of all women-- have at one time used artificial contraception.

“68% of Catholic women use highly effective methods: sterilization (32%, including 24% using female sterilization,) the pill or another hormonal method (31%) and the IUD (5%).

“Only 3% of married Catholic women who do not want to become pregnant rely on natural family planning

Weep with those who weep...........

And we give money to these guys...why?

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/01/30/morsi-aide-america-invented-holocaust-myth/

CAIRO (CBSDC) — An aide to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi claims that the Holocaust was a hoax.

Fathi Shihab Eddim, Morsi’s senior aide, made the comments on Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27.

“The myth of the Holocaust is an industry that America invented,” Eddim said, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Eddim, who is reportedly responsible for appointing editors for the country’s state-run newspapers, asserted that 6 million Jews actually moved to the United States during World War II

more at site

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Prayers needed, thank you

I have to make a huge and life-changing decision soon. Please pray for me. Thank you.

From CK and thanks........

 Fr. Bill Casey, C.P.M. - "Compromise leads to confusion, confusion to corruption, and corruption to collapse. This is the process involved."

Lies and misdemeanors: The real reason for the failure of Catholic marriages is contraception

Religion News Service, quoted on another site, here linked, has an article  on the Pope's new comment on annulments  Now, when I worked for three parishes in RICA, as the coordinator and speaker, as well as group leader, it was clear, working with the priests, that many people seeking annulments were confused on the use of the term immaturity. Immaturity has never been a canonically given reason for annulments  Never. If judicial boards were deciding this as a cause, they were, simply wrong, as one can grow out of immaturity. It is not, unless a mental condition or personality disorder, a permanent cause. Those mental or psychological conditions are impediments to marriage. The inability to make a commitment must be based on something other than immaturity,

Most people on the day of their marriage are somewhat immature about what the sacrament really is all about. Many of our parents (and I mean those of the Greatest Generation-the parents of the Baby Boomers) got married very young. My dad was 24 and my mom was 19, albeit six days short of 20. Dad turned 25 a few months later.

Age has nothing to do with immaturity. Some people are mature at 20 and some immature at 36.

The conditions for annulment have been clear for years and years and years.

If local chancery offices and diocesan boards misused their power in granting annulments  then the Pope has the power and, indeed, necessity to change the canon law. But, canon law is not the problem. Interpretation has been sloppy.

Thank God for this good Pope.

The other HUGE elephant in the closet regarding Catholic marriages are the numbers of couples getting married in mortal sin and ergo, not receiving sanctifying grace in the sacrament, and sometimes, adding sin to sin.

There are too many couples allowed to marry in the Church from a cohabitating relationship.

Contraception, also a mortal sin, blocks the reception of sanctifying grace. 

i contend that many marriages fail as the couple did not receive grace and kept sinning going into marriage. 

No graces in the relationship leads the couple further and further away from God. Can He and does He intervene? Yes. But one must not presume. I know very good people who have converted from contracepting marriages. But, this is rare. They repented, and went to Confession and never sinned that sin again.

In order for anyone to receive the grace of a sacrament, one must be in grace to receive grace, except for Confession and the last anointing. That sacrament must be offered by priests, and yes, even demanded, before a Catholic marriage takes place. If the couple have no intention of not contracepting, for example, that would constitute a bad Confession and ergo, no grace. 

God will not be mocked. He is not deceived. Be not deceived, God is not mocked.Galatians 6:7 DR

Repenting of contraception opens the door to new life in a marriage. Confession is necessary and salutary.

Do not be afraid.

And, if one of the two refuse to have children, lying, perhaps, before marriage, that is grounds for annulment. Being closed to life by will is an impediment. 

Those who take part in the sacrament of marriage must be open to life.

Anything else is not only a false commitment before God and between each other, but a misunderstanding of one of the main purposes of marriage.

Sadly, many priests have led couples astray on these points and condoned contraception between Catholic couples.

God help those bad priests. They have weakened the Church.

If you are contracepting, please pray and stop. You cannot enter into the journey towards God while doing so. 

Ladies, if a man wants you to move in with him before marriage, he does not love you. If he wants you to contracept, he does not love you. He only loves his own convenience and pleasure.

On Buried Loincloths

There has been, of late, too much grousing among some bloggers. Now, unless there is heresy, I think bloggers should rant and rave to their little old hearts' content. However, complaints or worse, misunderstandings, have become nasty.

I do not mind criticism, unless it is ad hominem, as that is really boring.

But, I do mind when the prophets and priests are being stoned, virtually.

I shall not go into detail, but there is a growing division among Catholic bloggers.

Now, I do not expect much from the liberals except complaints, but when so-called neo-con Catholics begin to throw the virtual stones at such as Voris, Fr. Z, and yes, little old me for being strong in the Faith and not compromising, well, I guess all I can say is that I am very glad to be in good company.

Recently, it was brought to my attention by a reader that some tweets against me were whizzing around twitterdom. I missed all of these, so I guess that is OK, and I shall not go out looking for such.

The anti-Voris camp has grown steadily and that group just does not get it that if Jeremiah were alive today, the complainers would absolutely HATE him.

So much for buried loincloths...

Unless those in the Church realize that there are many different types of gifts and that some people are prophets, who are supposed to stir up the conscience and cause a stir, well....

Jeremiah 131The LORD said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth; wear it on your loins, but do not put it in water.2I bought the loincloth, as the LORD commanded, and put it on.3A second time the word of the LORD came to me thus:4Take the loincloth which you bought and are wearing, and go at once to the Perath; hide it there in a cleft of the rock.5Obedient to the LORD’s command, I went to the Perath and buried the loincloth.6After a long time, the LORD said to me: Go now to the Perath and fetch the loincloth which I told you to hide there.7So I went to the Perath, looked for the loincloth and took it from the place I had hidden it. But it was rotted, good for nothing!8Then the word came to me from the LORD:9Thus says the LORD: So also I will allow the pride of Judah to rot, the great pride of Jerusalem.10This wicked people who refuse to obey my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and follow other gods, serving and worshiping them, will be like this loincloth, good for nothing.11For, as the loincloth clings to a man’s loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me—oracle of the LORD—to be my people, my fame, my praise, my glory. But they did not listen.

Personal Manifesto Two

asoninsightsfollowChurchloveneeddeepdiscussionsspiritualstrengtheningPeoplesurvivedemandGoodbrokestartedtookthirstgivenstudentsdaysharingmembersrespondinggoalsdonebecomeagainJanuaryonlyblogNetbaptizedStrongorderyoungeronepathlivesfutureTruthCatholicstoppedNewsexigenciesstillabidingteachingMarchcontinuePersonfirstcatechesislinefinishedfasttimesame

I started a blog in March of 2007. I stopped writing that one in 2009. I took it off the Net.

In 2012, January, I started the blog up again. The reason why I started the first one was to continue discussions with students that could not be finished in the time given to me. Then, the 2008 election broke into the blog.

In 2012, I was responding to the need for catechesis on line, and for sharing insights for a younger generation.

In 2013, my goals are still the same. What I have done and what I shall do in the future is only for the up-building of the Catholic Church by teaching and strengthening Her members.

I have a deep and abiding love for the Church and Her People. I have a thirst for Truth and Love Who is a Person.

The exigencies of the day demand that we become strong, fast.

Strong in orthodoxy and our spiritual lives in order to survive and spread the Good News.....

We are baptized. We must follow this path.

Catechism Online Link: A Reminder: The Four Sins Which Cry Out to God For Vengeance

Free online edition http://www.remnantnewspaper.com/The%20Douay%20Catechism%20of%201649.pdf

and here,

Douay Catholic Catechism of 1649: Pilgrimage House, 2007 Edition

CHAPTER XX – The sins that cry to Heaven for vengeance
Q. 925. HOW many such sins are there?
A. Four.
Q. 926. What is the first of them?
A. Wilful murder, which is a voluntary and unjust taking away another’s life.
Q. 927. How show you the depravity of this sin?
A. Out of Gen. iv. 10. Where it is said to Cain “What hast thou done? the voice of the blood of thy brother crieth to me from the earth: now, therefore shalt thou be cursed upon the earth.” And Matt. xxvi 52, “All that take the sword, shall perish with the sword.”
Q. 928. What is the second?
A. The sin of Sodom, or carnal sin against nature, which is a voluntary shedding of the seed of nature, out of the due use of marriage, or lust with a different sex.
Q. 929. What is the scripture proof of this?
A. Out of Gen. xix. 13. where we read of the Sodomites, and their sin. “We will destroy this place because the cry of them hath increased before our Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them,” (and they were burnt with fire from heaven.)
Q. 930. What is the third?
A. Oppressing of the poor, which is a cruel, tyrannical, and unjust dealing with inferiors.
Q. 931. What other proof have you of that?
A. Out of Exod. xxii. 21. “Ye shall not hurt the widow and the fatherless: If you do hurt them, they will cry unto me, and I will hear them cry, and my fury shall take indignation, and I will strike thee with the sword.” And out of Isa. x. 1, 2. “Wo to them that make unjust laws, that they might oppress the poor in judgment, and do violence to the cause of the humble of my people.”
Q. 932. What is the fourth?
A. To defraud working men of their wages, which is to lessen, or detain it from them.
Q. 933. What proof have you of it?
A. Out of Eccl. xxxiv. 37. “He that sheddeth blood and he that defraudeth the hired man, are brethren,” and out of James v. 4. “Behold the hire of the workmen that have reaped your fields, which is defrauded by you, crieth, and their cry hath entered into the ears of the Lord God of Sabbath.”

Symbolic or What?

The University of Chicago Medical Center has announced plans to turn Ronald Reagan’s childhood home in Chicago into a parking lot for President Barack Obama’s library.

The Commission on Chicago Landmarks previously denied the Gipper’s home landmark status in 2012, according to The Washington Times, and the university subsequently scheduled demolition to begin in January. Officials claim the home does not reach landmark status because it is not architecturally significant and the nation’s 40th president did nothing notable while living there.

Read Latest Breaking News from 

Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/US/reagan-obama-library-demolition/2013/01/30/id/488082?s=al&promo_code=123D9-1#ixzz2JVHGF9iu 

Am I writing for now or for the future? A personal manifesto

Thanks to wiki

The geniuses of this world, such as Steve Jobs and Ferdinand Porsche, worked not just for the day but for the furture. When, on June 8th, 1948, Mr. Porsche designed the two-seater 356, he also was drawing the prototypes for all Porsches up to the present day.

The 911 was created in 1963, but the concepts of what a car should be had been established. The genius was to create a car for those who may not know what a car can do, but should do.
Steve Jobs was the same at Apple, and thought ahead of the game, as it were, to create a machine which would appeal to people who did not even realize all a computer could do.

God did the same thing. While Christ was on earth, He created the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. Those first men did not realize all the Church would be and should be, but Christ did.

He thought ahead of His People-of course, He is God.

But, we must do the same now. We must think ahead of what is happening in the world AND in our own interior lives in order to be prepared for the future.

Those who are not preparing will either be lost, confused, weak, or simply not able to help their neighbours.

As baptized Catholics, this is our responsibility-to be prepared.

As Hamlet states, "The readiness is all".

Ready for what? Now and the eternal now.

Read my blog, read the Scriptures, pray, study, think, reflect, act.

We do not have much time.