More on The Virtues: Stupidity and Intelligence Continued...

Here is a long quotation from Garrigou-Lagrange on the virtues. I shall make a list of all forty of the virtues we are to develop in our lives while on earth, or gain through merit via penance and mortification. From Reality-A Thomistic Synthesis....which I did quote before on this blog and have recommended.

The point of this selection has to do with the fact that in order to develop and make a habit of virtue, one must use one's intellect. Virtues do not emanate from the emotions. Virtue forms the emotions to be the servants of the intellect and will.

One chooses to be trained in the virtues, to allow God to bring one to understand virtue in a particular way, such as through suffering or study.

But, learn the virtues we must. Some saints have infused virtue, but for most humans, virtues must be cultivated in cooperation with grace.

However, infused virtue comes after the practice of acquired virtue, in somewhat the same way that infused contemplation follows acquired contemplation.

Those who do not grow in virtue fall back into stupidity.

Stupidity ignores the virtuous life.

Article Two: Classification Of Virtues
Some virtues are intellectual, some are moral, some are theological. The intellectual virtues [1049] are five: three in the speculative order, namely, first principles, science, and wisdom, and two in the practical order, prudence [1050] and art. [1051].
Moral virtues are perfections, either of the will or of the sense appetite. In dividing them St. Thomas is guided by the ancient moralists, Aristotle, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine. All moral virtues are reduced to the four cardinal virtues: [1052] prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance. Prudence, though it is an intellectual virtue, is likewise a moral virtue, because it guides both the will and the sense appetite in finding the right means in attaining an end. Justice inclines the will to give everyone his due. Fortitude strengthens the irascible appetite against unreasonable fear. Temperance rules the concupiscible appetite.
The theological virtues [1053] elevate our higher faculties, intellect and will, proportioning them to our supernatural end, that is, to God's own inner life. [1054] Faith makes us adhere supernaturally to what God has revealed. Hope, resting on His grace, tends to possess Him. Charity makes us love Him, more than ourselves, more than all else, because His infinite goodness is in itself lovable, and because He, both as Creator and as Father, loved us first. The theological virtues, therefore, are essentially supernatural and infused, by reason of their formal objects, which without them are simply inaccessible.
By this same rule St. Thomas distinguishes the infused moral virtues from acquired moral virtues. [1055] This distinction, of capital importance yet too little known, must be emphasized. The acquired moral virtues do indeed incline us to what is in itself good, not merely to what is useful or delectable. They make man perfect as man. But they do not suffice to make man a God's child, who, guided by faith and Christian prudence, is to employ supernatural means for a supernatural end. Thus infused temperance, say, is specifically distinct from acquired temperance, as, to illustrate, a higher note on the key board is specifically distinct from the same note on a lower octave. Thus we distinguish Christian temperance from philosophic temperance, and evangelical poverty from the philosophic poverty of Crates. Acquired temperance, to continue with St. Thomas, [1056] differs from infused temperance in rule, object, and end. It observes the just medium in nourishment, so as not to harm health or occupation. Infused temperance observes a higher medium, so as to live like a child of God on his march to a life that is eternal and supernatural. It implies a more severe mortification, which chastises the body and reduces it to subjection, [1057] not merely to become a good citizen here below but rather a fellow citizen of the saints, a child in the family of God. [1058].
This same difference between infused and acquired is found likewise in prudence, justice, and fortitude. Yet we must note that acquired virtue facilitates the exercise of infused virtue, as, to illustrate, finger exercises facilitate the musician's art which resides in the musician's intellect.
As the acquired virtues in the will and sense appetite, justice, namely, and fortitude, and temperance, are inseparable from prudence, so the infused virtues are inseparable from charity. Faith and hope can indeed continue to exist without charity, but they no longer exist in a state of virtue, [1059] and their acts are no longer meritorious. And whereas all moral virtues, infused or acquired, must preserve a medium between excess and defect, the theological virtues have no medium properly speaking, because we can neither believe too much in God, nor hope too much in Him, nor love Him too much. [1060]

to be continued...

Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.----Matt. 5:48 

Voice of Sanity Part IV

Part Two in Dr. Sanity's "strategies" is so good I decided to post this as well....you can look up Part One.

 APRIL 14, 2006

STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH DENIAL - Part II : Logical Fallacies and Rhetorical Ploys Used in Denial

This is the second of a three-part series on Strategies for dealing with denial. Part I -The Many Faces of Denial can be found here. Part III is here.

In this post I am going to discuss some of the techniques that those in denial use in order to maintain and facilitate their denial and to prevent any confrontation about it or their motivations. There are a number of logical fallacies and rhetorical ploys that frequently pop up when dealing with someone in denial. People in denial may believe they are engaging in substantive arguments and presenting their case, but when examined, the grounds they present are actually examples of pseudo-reasoning.

Although not precisely a fallacy or rhetorical ploy, physical coercion is another important technique that is used to defuse and/or disrupt rational argument or discussion. For the denier, coercion has the advantage of eliminating any possibiity they might have to confront their denial and what is driving it.

Understanding all of these techniques is essential for being able to deal with individuals in denial.

There is frequently a connection between the pseudo-reasoning technique employed to perpetuate denial, and the style of denial being used (as described in Part I). The list that follows is not exhaustive, and only includes some of what I consider the more important techniques being used. The table is only intended to be a preliminary guide. A brief discussion of each of the fallacies or rhetorical ploys referred to follows after table.



COMMON RHETORICAL PLOYS

From: Critical Thinking A Concise Guide (Bowell and Kemp):

Rhetoric is any verbal or written attempt to persuade someone to beieve, desire or do something that does not attempt to give good reasons for the belief, desire or action, but attempts ot motivate that belief, desire or action solely through the power of the words used.

The difference between fallacies and rhetorical ploys is understood most eaily as a difference in the function of the language being employed....politicians, advertisers and newspaper columnists tend to be experts when it come to using rhetorical ploys. Rhetorical ploys typically make a more or less direct appeal to feeling and emotion rather than to reason, which is the domin of argument. Fallacies, on the other hand, are simply defective attempts at arguments....They may fool us into thinking they are not defective, but they are still presented as attempts at argument. Of course, manny writers and speakers will use a mixture of rhetorical ploys, fallacies, and genuine arguments when attempting to persuade us of the truth of their claim.

Let us first consider some of the most common rhetorical ploys in use:

-Appeals to FEELINGS : this type of ploy is very common and the user tries to appeal to specific feelings or desires. For example, you may be enticed to believe what is said because of the passion with which it is said (rather than analyzing the content); or because it stimulates compassion, pity, guilt, fear or any number of other feelings.

Eliciting fear is also known as using "scare tactics", and should be distinguished from genuine warnings for which there is a good reason to act and/or experience the emotion.

Additionally, when one appeals to feelings; emphasis may be placed on the novelty of the idea; or popularity ("everyone thinks this!") or the sexiness or cuteness etc.; all of which can easily distract from a rational analysis of the idea or product.

-Direct attack is simply the unapologetic assertion that something is true or not true without any evidence presented.

-Buzzwords are the use of emotion-laden terms that subtly influence the listener but which offer no information about the truth of what is being said.

-Scare quotes are used to mock the opposition (I use them myself at times!) by calling into question a particular concept (e.g., terrorism vs "terrorism").

-Smokescreen is diverting attention from the topic of discussion by introducing a new topic.

-Equivocation is deliberately making ambiguous statements in order to mislead.

LOGICAL FALLACIES

-Formal fallacies can be found in almost any text on logic and include affirming the consequent (i.e., if P then Q; Q; therefore P) or denying the antecedent (i.e., if P then Q; not-P; therefore not-Q). As a group they are invalid arguments because of formal mistakes in reasoning.

-Substantive fallacies are fallacies that rely on an implied but not expressed general premise, but which are false when scrutinized. They include:
Majority belief - concluding that because a majority believe something it must be true. This category includes the excessive reliance on polls to be the arbiter of what is true or false and how one should behave.
Common practice - concluding that because everyone does a certain thing, you should do it too.
Ad hominem is responding to an argument by attacking your opponent rather than addressing the argument itself.
Appeal to an alleged authority - is problematic when the authority appealed to has no expertise in a particular field; or even if he does, there is no automatic guarantee that he is correct.
Perfectionist fallacy - where an idea or proposal is rejected because it cannot completely solve a particular problem.
Weak analogy -use of an unjustied or unsustainable analogy;
Causal fallacies are also very common and involve making assumptions that (1)because things are temporally related that there is a cause and effect (temporal fallacy); or (2) that because two things are correlated there is a causal relationship between them; (3) going from knowing a certain thing is true to believing that something else also must be true when there is no evidence to support the belief is called the Epistemic fallacy.

OTHER LOGICICAL FALLACIES AND DENIAL TECHNIQUES

The following techniques don't fit into the previous categories; or are a combination of one or more already mentioned. They include:

-Red Herrings are premises or ideas that are irrelevant to a particular conclusion but which are offered as evidence of the conclusion;

-Straw man is deliberately setting up a false target that is easier to defeat in argument;

-Begging the question is the situation where the truth of a conclusion is assumed by its premises;

-Selective use of evidence: in any analysis there is usually a large amount of evidence to consider; particularly when there is sufficient complexity involved, it is sometimes easy to pay attention only to evidence that supports the desired conclusions and not to evidence which contradicts it;

-Moving the goalposts is a common practice in denial and occurs when someone always demands more evidence than can currently be provided. If that evidence becomes available at a later date, the demand is then made for even more evidence ad infinitum;

-Argument by definition is changing the meaning of words or concepts so that they support your argument (e.g., "it depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."; and other distortions of language like using the opposite meaning of a word as in Orwell's Newspeak)

-Liar paradox is one of my personal favorites and is the use of paradoxical statements (e.g., "This statement is false" or "There is no objective truth") that are linguistically correct but internally inconsistent and cannot be demonstrated to be either true or false.

AGGRESSION AND PHYSICAL ATTACK

The most obvious technique in this category is the physical analog of the ad hominemattack. This clearly requires no thinking or logic manipulations at all. We see this in the physical attacks that are made by the left on whoever incurs their ire; or dares to spread ideas that deviate from their own script.

Isaac Asimov famously said that "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." From a psychiatric perspective, I would amend the saying to: physical coercion is the last refuge of a person in denial. 

Coercion is the historically tried and true method by which most totalitarian regimes perpetuate themselves. They must control the flow of information; ruthlessly suppress any ideas that delegitimize their ideology; eliminate any persons threatening to expose their weaknesses; and even physically prevent their own people from being able to freely leave the country where they might pick up alien ideas. All of these measures ensure that psychological denial and the underlying motives of those in control are never questioned or challenged. A tyrant is, from this perspective, the ultimate person in denial.

There are many deluded people who claim that this situation already exists in the U.S. under the BusHitler. I'm sure you have noticed the frequent round-ups and imprisonment of all those Hollywood stars; and courageous antiwar protesters whose opinions are being ruthlessly suppressed by the Bush Administration.

Nevertheless, the real physical suppression and aggressive attacks that are occurring instead of rational debate are not coming from either the government or conservatives for the most part.

Some of the most recent examples can be seen here and here. The latter story about the attempt by law schools to ban US military recruiters is particularly amusing in light of the law school's belief that not only should they be able to effectively prevent the military from recruiting on campus, but they should also continue to receive money (and protection from the military, I assume) from the organization that runs the military (i.e., the US government).

Further, there are numerous physical attempts to shut people up that also use the rhetorical ploy of appeal to feelings--in particular, an appeal to cuteness--when protesters throw pies in the faces of speakers they don't agree with; or the mindless--and loud-- chanting of cute slogans to drown out speakers with whom protesters disagree.

Not only do these individuals and groups not bother to argue their side of an issue, but they can't even bear to listen to someone who might stimulate them to consider alternative ideas or confront their own denial.

Jeff at Beautiful Atrocities suggests to me some other ways that today's political left have developed to control the flow of information. He mentions Amazon, where you can track swarms of those on the left panning new conservative books they've obviously never bothered to read. Jeff suggests that this occurs, "As though the very existence of material that challenges their worldview is a threat that must be extinguished (rather than letting people make up their mind)."

Exactly. The last thing a person in denial wants is the free flow of information about a topic that threatens the perfection and contentment of his denial.

Wikipedia is another forum where people deep in denial have painstakingly tried to rewrite history so that it conforms with their ideology. If you read about the Aztecs, for instance, you'll find that their mass human sacrifice was really no different from European warmongering.

Democrats have also stated their intention, should they get the opportunity, to reinstate the 'Fairness Doctrine' aka govt regulation of private radio stations, which would have the effect of forcing conservative talk radio stations to jettison half their content in favor of Air America type shows, regardless of whether anyone wants to listen to them.

How many times have you heard those from the left side of the political spectrum state that the FCC should shut down FOX for its "lies". At college campuses all over the country, every time a campus newspaper runs an editorial that goes against the ideology, all the papers are stolen by the ideological minions of the left. Military recruiters are run off campus by the threat of violence (either to them or any who would like to listen to them).

I won't even go into the entire issue of leftist mainstream media bias, which has been taken up in many other venues.

The pattern remains the same. To physically prevent people access to alternate
worldviews or information instead of persuading them by rational argument of the truth of your own position.

None of these techniques (rhetorical ploys, logical fallacies, or physical control) are unique to one side of the political spectrum or the other certainly; but in today's political climate, most of the denial manifested--particularly since 9/11--is almost all on one side. Back in the 40's and 50's of the last century, the situation was reverse.

In Part III, I will discuss various strategies for dealing with your own psychological denial; as well as psychological denial in others. One commenter in the discussion thread for Part I said:

You have a solution? After only four years and seven months? But now we have to wait for it? Please hurry, early voting for the primaries starts tomorrow here in NC.

Well, I hate to disappoint. You can only lead a denier to reality, but you can't make him (or her) drink. That said, there are some useful strategies that may be helpful in dealing with the problem!

UPDATE: Anyone who would like to send a link to examples of any of the above techniques will have it listed here.
-SC&A found an example of coercion where a college librarian is being sued for sexual harassment because he recommend several conservative books to a freshman.
-LLB sent me this article about a display on abortion being destroyed.
-Junior says that with latest news today about the Iranian president saying that Israel will be annihilated, this blogger is more worried about what Bush will do. (Displacement)

UPDATE II: At the Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh writes this about the SC&A referred article:

It's quite sad, I think, that these university professors are responding to offensive ideas not just by arguing against them, but by trying to coercively suppress them (apparently, according to the ADF's letter, with considerable support from their colleagues).

Yes, isn't it?

UPDATE III: Neo-neocon has a great post up on Critical Thinking. She agrees that it is...critical! Great minds think alike.

STM is posting these because of the upcoming Synod, wherein many are not thinking in terms of Christ's teaching or the long teaching of the Church. I taught Logic and Critical Thinking for years. Sadly, most Catholics cannot think, and do not think like Catholics.

Hope these posts jar some into reality.

What Seems....

For those who have read Lord of the World, and I am finishing up my fifth reading at least, the title reveals a problem of today's West--that of the confusion of religion with politics, a theme I have followed on this blog for a long time.

The title itself describes three different persons.

The first is the True Lord of the World, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour, King, Ruler of all.

The second person to which the title refers is the Pope, who is the vicar of Christ on earth and the leader of the institution of the Church, as well as the spiritual head. The main character becomes the pope.

The third is the mock Lord of the World, the AntiChrist, who will attempt to take sovereignty from God and His Pope, in the End Times. In the story, of course, he faces the pope head on. We know who wins, as Christ comes to claim His earth, His people.

I can see from my seat a Catbird, which is calling out. This young bird sounds like a cat, but can mimic the songs and calls of other birds. It imitates a Robin, a Cardinal, a Starling, but remains a Catbird.

The sounds made by the Catbird vary, from songs, to calls, to clicking noises. No matter what sounds the Grey Catbird makes, this creature still remains itself.

So, too, the AntiChrist will come and mock Christ. He will perform miracles in the name of humanity, not God, and will draw men down into deceit and, finally, hell.

The only Lord of the World is Christ, and His representative on earth, the Pope.

Sadly, too many people look to politicians for salvation. Only Christ saves us from ourselves; the world, the flesh and the devil.

The little Catbird has flown away and now a Mourning Dove, on of my favorites, is singing over the loud hum of the cicadas. Summer will end soon, and the birds will fly south, except for the few which winter over in this harsh climate.

Few safe havens will remain in the time of tribulation, which is barely just beginning, but beginning. Our children and chidrens' children will see the worst persecution. I sincerely hope, Dear Readers, you are teaching your children to be saints.

Tough mindedness and discernment need to be priorities in their lives, as in ours.

I am having trouble with the Internet today, so I may not be able to blog much.

Hopefully, bbl.

Forth Eorlingas!

Yesterday, after speaking with certain people and forcing myself to watch the last video on the selling of baby parts, I realized that this nation is now two nations.

We are all living in a land divided so severely by a crevasse dividing true Christians from false ones and pagans, that we shall most likely never be united again.

We need to be in rescue mode-rescuing ourselves first, and then others, from the evil division created by satan.

This crevasse has come as a shock to some, but not so to others. Some Catholics seem overwhelmed with despair, and others are in denial.

But, the people of this country have allowed this crevasse to be created by evil. Those who cooperate with evil are on one side, and the People of God are on the other side.

As God told St. Catherine of Siena in the Dialogue, Christ is the only Bridge into heaven. So, too, He is the only Bridge from evil to goodness.

Living in the Land of Deniers, I am struck today that those in denial will be the first ones to fall into the darkness of the split.

I am also reminded of the great book, The Tale of Two Cities, in which Dickens makes a weak man into a hero because this man chooses love over self. We now have two cities in America. The city of satan has been firmly established on this continent and the City of God remains guarded by the faithful few. As in Dicken's book, people will have to make decisions about life, love, death, selfishness. Sometimes dire conditions help people rise above their weaknesses, and become heroes. Our heroes in Western literature have been noble, good, true.

One thinks of the horror and impossibility of the Battle of Pelennor Fields, perhaps the most poignant section of Tolkien's trilogy. Two people said to me in the last six months, "Do we have to fight? Do we always have to fight?"

"Yes," I answered, "always, while we are on this earth."

The Latino Priest Shortage in America

In 2015, only 14% of those men ordained are Latino. In my diocese alone, there are two Latino priests active in ministry, and in this state, there are 168,806 Latinos. Even if I divide this number by four, as there are four dioceses in this state. that means there could be 42,201 Latinos in this diocese.

This information can be found on this site.

The two priests here who are Latino include one who is near 6, or so, and a brand-new priest, who actually was from another state, another diocese, originally.

One must ask the question as to why there are so few men in the priesthood from Latino backgrounds.

Latinos make up 34% of the Catholics in this nation. One can immediately see the discrepancy in the statistics.

One may surmise that Latino children do not come into contact with Latino priests, because of the great shortage. One may surmise that the lack of Latino men finishing college is another problem, as a large number of the ordinands went to college before seminary finishing either a BA or higher degree. One could surmise that the number of ordinands with both parents Catholic, 94%, has something to do with the lack of the nurturing of a vocation.

Perhaps the greatest shock in statistics is the fact that less than half of the ordinands went to Catholic schools-49% of diocesan priests only going to elementary Catholic schools, only 43% going to Catholic high schools, and only 45% going to Catholic colleges. The statistics for religious priests is slightly higher in all categories than for secular, or diocesan priests.

The Catholic school system has failed in providing priests. One may ask why, but the fact that 34% of the Catholics in America are Latino and only 14% of this year's ordinands are Latino, must be a question addressed by all Catholics in America.

Georgetown has another interesting survey here.

Obviously, if there are less and less Latino priests, young boys and men will not meet Latino priests.

But, I do not think this is the problem. The problem is that Hispanic men do not go to college or finish college.

The problem is the lack of Latino men going on for higher education of any type of degree. America is only the 10th country in the world for graduation of students. 10th! And, about 11% of Hispanics (Latinos) graduate from college, even in 2014 with the vast majority of Hispanics graduating being Latinas, the women, not the men, leading the statistics. See the second chart.

In addition to the enrollment chart, one must know that Latinas graduate at a higher number than Latinos.

Here is one California statistic on graduating Hispanic men and women.

Men and women of the same race graduate at similar rates in the CSU system. The numbers fluctuate among men and women from separate races, according to a Campaign for College Opportunity study.

Of the four races discussed in the study, Latinos showed the largest percentage difference with 47 percent of women graduating compared to 39 percent of men. White women graduate at the highest rate at 61 percent, while only 55 percent of white men graduate.

The report also found that for every 100 Black women who graduate from a CSU, only 45 Black men do the same. Also, for every 100 Latina women that graduate, only 51 Latino men receive a degree.
http://sundial.csun.edu/2014/02/where-are-all-the-men/

These statistics will effect the number of men who go into the seminary or desire to go in. How dioceses can encourage young Latino men to go and to finish college may be part of the problem.

But, as 94% of the ordinands noted, both parents of this great majority are Catholic. Maybe this is the real issue. Something for dioceses to consider, as the lack of Latino priests will only exacerbate the problem.

Here is one diocese's statistics revealing the priest shortage, which is repeated in most places in America.

104, 300 Catholics, in an overall population of 784,000. 94 diocesan priests, and 3 religious priests.

1,075 Catholics per priest.

But, in England and Wales, there is one priest per 740 Catholics, but much less in the rural dioceses.

In the entire world, in 2012, there were 414,313 Catholic priests, total with an estimated 1.76 billion Catholics, including those most likely in China and Korea. You can do the math.

Why we should all be praying and encouraging young men to become priests.

Eastern vs. Western Philosophy

I cannot sufficiently cover this topic on a blog, as one could teach an entire college semester course on the comparisons between Eastern and Western philosophies.

Some people who are Catholic do not care about philosophy, as they do not understand that how we think, the method of thinking and the basis for thinking must precede moral decisions as well as theology. This forms one of the reasonings behind all seminarians being required to take philosophy before they take theology.

Even if I use the simple, wiki definition of philosophy, one can see how this study involves most aspects of both the material and spiritual life.

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values,reason, mind and language

In a discussion with someone about Tai-Chi, the problem of interpretation of so-called arts, whether military or not, from the East, must involve a discussion of the philosophy behind activities.

Yes, Eastern philosophies are not compatible with Western views of reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, the mind and language.

Obviously, unless one understands that philosophical ideas created an invisible thread tying together religion and all aspects of life, one will fall into either cynicism or New Age fantasies regarding life.

God created Western Civilization through Revelation and the cultures of Judaic, Greek and Roman peoples. God, in His Wisdom, could have created His plan for reaching Him through other philosophies, but He did not. There are complicated reasons for understanding that our religion of Catholicism, although originating in the Middle East, is absolutely not an "Eastern Religion".

How we think about ourselves and the world around us determines how we worship God. God demands that we worship Him in spirit and truth, not in fallacies or confusion about the material world.

The more one accepts Eastern religions and even alternative medicines, the more one moves away from the revealed truth from God as found in the Scriptures, and in Catholic Tradition.

Remember, confusion is never from God, never.

More on this later...I am going out for a bit.

On Becoming New Women Saints

I have never been to a baby shower. I only went to wedding showers when I was in the wedding as a bridesmaid.

I had presents sent to the houses.

Why?

In this consumerist society, a woman is expected to talk about things. I never talk about things. Yes, I am practical and highly organizational. But, things do not have to be discussed with other females over coffee. I could never understand two hours of discussions on wallpaper for baby's room, or the paint needed for the crib, the color of booties to match daddy's eyes, or the need for endless talk about past labor pains.

Some females have not responded to the real call of freedom which is the freedom to think and the freedom to become holy.

Liberal arts education teaches one how to think. Liberal does not mean wild and wooly, but free to think. Thinking does not mean being obsessed with things, but discussing ideas, politics, Church teaching.

I remember the first meeting of some dear friends of mine in Malta. They asked me to help set up a day of prayer. For two hours, the menu was discussed and who was bringing what. This happened every time a day of renewal occurred and the same wonderful ladies basically made the same things. One of them, who had travelled extensively apologized as I look puzzled over this re-hashing of various buns, cookies, cakes, casseroles and salads. She knew that the Maltese loved to discuss food for a long time and made group decisions rather than having one person delegate needs.

Maybe it is because I was a working mum. Maybe my time was too valuable to waste on trivial discussions with people I would not see for two more years when another baby came along. Maybe it is because back home, women just say--"You bring this and this and you bring this for the food." Period.

One does not have to think out loud and one does not have to talk trivia. But, why do we?

It is safe. If one is talking trivia, one avoids serious issues, such as pro-life issues, or ssm, or the Synod, which several ladies I have spoken with in the last few weeks had no idea was happening. Oh no, we cannot hurt anyone's feelings by not accepting someone's lifestyle or the arrogance of sin, or suggesting people read the Catechism.

Until female Catholics stop talking trivia, they will not grow up and be the Catholic women we need in the world, like our Lynda, or Ann, or Diane,or Kathy, or Sarah, who read this blog and pray as well as work for the Church Militant. Could the Irish vote possibly be owing to women who do not know their Faith and have encircled their lives with trivia, including consumer objects? Holy women have led many to the radical Gospel for centuries.

Females, also, need to avoid places of gossip. Sadly, where I come from, showers are gossip groups.

Females in the Church Militant need to resemble the great lay saints, like Blessed Zelie Martin or a woman who will be canonized eventually, Empress Zita.

These are women who loved and worked, but grew in the holiness of saints in a lay context. We women need to let things which seemed important in 1999, or 2005, like re-decorating or having the latest recipes on the table, and start thinking like real soldiers in the spiritual field of battle.

A new woman in the Church Militant needs to emerge from within the remnant of Catholic culture.

What do we need? Contemporary Joan of Arcs, contemporary Catherine of Sienas, contemporary Margaret Clitherows, contemporary Gianna Mollas, contemporary Blessed Maria Corsinis--decide to become one and not just another person discussing the price of Pampers or the recipe for biscuits with sesame seeds. 

Spurning Knowledge

Several months ago, I was speaking with a highly intelligent cab driver in another state, who noted that people were getting too touchy about everything. He is a Christian, a convert from Islam, who told me that he could no longer talk about any topics in the cab, as the vast majority of people he drove on long trips which was my case, would take offense at any political, religious, or moral topic.

His ability to reason was part of his conversion.

We discussed this phenomenon and decided that there exists a huge difference in generations regarding the ability to discuss something or even, to be corrected.

This fine man of about forty-something noted that few could stand being challenged in their ideas, and that many people were full of demons, unexplained hang-ups on certain topics, which ended conversations.

As a mature Christian, coming from a background where nothing could be discussed in open conversations concerning his former faith, he noted that opinions seemed more important than truth to people, and agendas clouded people's minds about wanting to find out the truth.

Yesterday, a friend of mine, Mr. B., told me the same thing, which reminded me of this former discussion. He said that in some discussions, one touches demons in the souls of others, who then cannot respond rationally.

Mr. B. said that when one brings up a topic and someone is stuck in an agenda and refuses to listen to rational discourse, that person falls back into opinion, rather than reasonable openness. For example, if a person is a practicing homosexual and one wants to discuss the possibility of this lifestyle being unnatural or even against the natural law of God, there seems to be a strong resistance to even be open to the truth. There can be no discussion. Why?

All topics should be able to be discussed, and logic should be the common ground for discussions. But, here is the problem according to my two friends above-no one has been taught in the past twenty or so years to really look at various points of view about a subject and few people believe in absolute truth.

In addition, most people do not want to break out of their own fairy tale land of comfort in order to pursue the truth. Sloth is the name of the game.

Another friend said exactly the same thing as Mr. B. Ms. K reminded me that when we were in school, we learned to do research by using the library card catalogs and journals. We had to use research skills to find out sources for our papers. We could not use merely our own unsubstantiated feelings or opinions. The instructors in our various subjects, whether history, English, or the sciences, even in high school, demanded that we get experts and peer-reviewed articles to substantiate our viewpoints.

Now, everyone thinks they are entitled to uneducated guesses, or just their own viewpoints without any recourse to study or reading.

Too many young people refuse, for example, to look up articles on line on the Catholic positions, including the various sites which present the encyclicals, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

There is no excuses for ignorance if one is online, yet ignorance remains. Why?

It seems that we are witnessing a large portion of society who just do not want to admit that their worlds of completely made-up, false comfort may be coming to an end. Too many people do not want to face the truth about moral or religious issues.

This type of chosen ignorance is not the same as involuntary or invincible ignorance. When information is available and people do not avail themselves of this information, only two conclusions may be reached and these are that sloth makes them lazy, or that lust makes them complacent.

Sloth is one of the greatest sins of the new group of people who refuse to read or study unless they absolutely are forced to do so. The idea of learning for the joy of learning seems to be fading in our society. And, when asked to move out of their comfort zones of prejudices and agendas, these people refuse to admit that they will not read, study or discuss.

What is going on? When I was a student, we sat around as kids for hours discussing life, the universe and everything. We had discussions on math, science, history, literature, movies, music, art and so on. Is this happening anywhere?

Religious discussions seemed very popular when I was in high school, with Lutheran kids wanting to share their ideas with the Methodists and the Catholics and so on. No kids talked about money or shopping, as those topics were boring. We were idea kids, and we wanted to learn about what made each other religious or non-religious. We wanted to know.

Now, as my cab driver stated, one cannot even bring up interesting topics without getting the lazy answers from the “I don't know and I don't want to find out” types, or from the “This is too hard, and I want to avoid confrontation” types, or the “I take offense as to what you are saying” types.

But, discussion is not always confrontation. In fact, the give and take of discussion should be exciting. It should be, primarily, the sharing and the mutual discovery of Truth. Ah, but there is the rub.

Do people really want to find out the truth about anything, themselves, others, the state of the world, the state of wars, and so on?

Too many young people are chasing after false dreams of various versions of the so-called American Dream, which no longer exists in reality. Too many young people really want only lives of things, including treating people as things. Too many only want comforts and not challenges.

When a civilization loses the desire for knowledge, it is dead, not decaying, but dead.

It is a fact that this younger generation is not as intelligent as the previous ones. Father Ripperger calls this devolution-that we are as humans getting more and more stupid. Why?

Sin is the answer. Sin makes one stupid. Sin makes one stop asking the basic questions of life, like “Why am I here?” or “What if the goal of a human being's life?” When a people stop asking or seeking after the meanings of things or of systems, it means they have chosen lust, greed, vanity, pride, avarice, hatred, sloth over Truth. Sin deadens the imagination and fills the soul with trivia.

My cabby friend noted that people got upset about everything, were hyper-touchy because they did not want to be challenged about life.

Guess what? We are all about to be challenged as never before...when the dollar explodes, when there is war which entails a draft, when persecution of the Catholic Church becomes enshrined in law, many people will be challenged to leave their comfort zones of the denial of absolute truth.

Knowledge is there for the taking. We live in an era where more knowledge has been available to the common man and woman than ever before. What took years of hard research and work to find can be found with one Google entry. Nothing is arcane, or few things are.

There is no excuse for ignorance. For those who want to remain ignorant of God's ways, His plan for salvation, His hierarchy of morals and laws, the days are coming when they will have to make a choice, with or without knowledge.

I refuse to spoon-feed. I never did as a teacher. I taught my students how to do research, and most importantly, how to think. I taught them how to discuss rationally important questions. They left my classes changed because I challenged them to leave the comfortable areas of opinion and laziness. They grew up, as learning how to think marks the boy from the man, the girl from the woman.

Teaching people who do not want to learn how to think can be a real difficulty. But, God has a way of doing that. It is called tribulation. The trials of the Hebrew People in the Old Testament were punishment for sin, but also wake-up calls to think through the messages of repentance proclaimed over and over by the prophets, most of whom were murdered by their own people.

The prophets were killed because people did not want to listen and think about their sins.

To repent, one must stop and think, reflect, learn, be willing to learn more about one's self and God.

Without self-knowledge and knowledge of God, one is doomed to stupidity cocooned in pride.

I pity the young ones who have never learned how to think. I suggest a long retreat with the guidance of St. Ignatius and the examination of Scripture and one's own life.

But, those who are content with trivia and content with agendas will not step out into unknown territory, which is what the spiritual world is.

Those who are willing to step out of their fanciful lives of comfort will find God, as He is Truth and He wants to be found. Those who do not, sadly, will perish and never live in the glory to which God has called each one of us, the glory of knowing God, Who is Love.

There are many reasons why people do not want to learn-pride being the first reason. Sloth, as I noted above, another. Today, I was watching a manager in a shop get upset because she had trained a person to do something, a simple task, and that person just did not do what she was told. Did she not listen? Was she not capable of understanding? This manager has gone through many, many employees in her shop and she cannot find “suitable people”. Why?

I thought about this and realized that all the young people she had hired and fired over the past two months, all about the ages between 18-28, had never learned three basic things-the first being obedience. They just did not know how to follow orders and obey, because no one had ever demanded that they obey anyone from little on.

The second reason is that these young people never had to take responsibility for any job at home. They never had to “do” anything, had no standards to meet in school, had no real challenges of meeting someone's expectations. The third reason is that they had never learned to think through a problem from the beginning to the end, even a simple one. They simply had to be told over and over what to do, as in spoon-feeding, not having to figure something out on their own.

I pity this manager, but she and others in charge of personnel, who have told me that they cannot find “suitable help”, have a problem on their hands which is huge-the devolution of the human being to the point where these young people simply cannot think. I saw one young man leave work yesterday and he yelled at a driver in front of his car, who was going slowly in order to find a street behind the shop. This young man was completely out of control of his emotions. The other driver was being careful and this young man was so impatient to leave, he could not control his outburst, which was totally unjustified. I witnessed all this from the sidewalk.

Living in the emotions rather than reason spells decay for a culture. This young man will not make it in the world, as he cannot keep his negative emotions to himself. He cannot reason his feelings into order. He will be the next one fired from the shop, as he irritates customers.

So, what we have is a young man who cannot control himself, who does not care about those around him, who cannot live in a society where manners and decorum when waiting on customers is necessary for the smooth running of a shop.

I have seen the coming and going of at least twelve employees in two months. Are there so many young people who cannot learn, cannot control themselves, and who take offense easily? My cabby friend would just shake his head and say, “Told you so.”

The World Within

Romans 12:2New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Psalm 66: 16-19

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God,
    and I will tell what he has done for me.
17 I cried aloud to him,
    and he was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
19 But truly God has listened;    he has given heed to the words of my prayer.

The second passage, from the Office of Readings today, and the first passage from Romans, remind us of the key message of the Bible, metanoia, repentance, change. When I see the number of people in the world who have not begun to repent or to change, as a change of heart must precede a change of action, usually, I realize that the work of the Catholic lay person in the world demands complete understanding, followed by action, on the steps of the above messages from God.

St. Paul gives us a simple step-by-step pattern for sainthood. And, yes, remember we are all called to be saints, here, now. The steps seem clear and have been repeated throughout the lives of the saints.

First, a decision not to conform to the world. Sometimes, as in the life of St. Benedict, this means removing one's self from the world and beginning anew with a fresh vision. Sometimes, as in the life of St. Ignatius Loyola, this means that God intervenes and places one in a position where one must change-a severely wounded mercenary soldier forced into reading the lives of the saints accepted God's grace for the moment of conversion. Or, as in the life of St. Bernard, this means that from little on, one is trained by excellent parents, saints themselves, to not be like others in the world, even the great world of wealth, status, nobility. Happy and blessed are those who grow up in Godly houses, with parents forming the spiritual life of the children. 

But, this lack of conformity to the world seems hard for the modern lay person, especially one who has been raised to love the world, the here and now, and not think of eternity daily. To break out of conformity to the world demands exertion and determination. Both physical, mental, and spiritual energies, aided by grace, pull one away from the inertia of conforming to the world, into a new regime of prayer, fasting, mortification, the willing acceptance of suffering. God does not demand what is impossible. If one thinks or, (horrors), feels this task of nonconformity seems too difficult, one is looking towards one's own self, instead of looking towards God. Sometimes, all one can do is concentrate on the Cross of Christ, which the world finds abhorrent. Those of us who chose the Crucified One will be, also, found abhorrent to the world, as the world sees this lack of conformity as threatening to its existence, and it is.

Bad habits, states St. Thomas Aquinas, takes months to break, and good habits take months to practice. But, nothing is impossible with grace.

The exterior life may seem easy to change for some, especially when one changes companions who have led one into daily sin,  Such companions could even be members of one's own family. But, for some, this exterior change seems impossible and sometimes, one does not even realize the depth of sin in daily actions because one has chosen sin over and over to the point of having many evil habits which lead to sin. To break these patterns takes heroic effort and heroic virtue in the lives of some lay people

However, the second step must be taken with the first, a complete renewal of the mind, putting on the Mind of Christ, thinking like a Catholic, (a great theme on this blog), and conforming no longer to the world, but to the Gospel. The interior change usually follows the exterior disciplines. But, interior change, the real conversion, can be an enlightenment, a sudden illumination of grace in the mind, imagination and then, will. For some, this second step of creating a new way of thinking demands a hard slog. For others, a moment of grace fills the mind freeing the person to pursue God's Will. One see this in the lives of such saints as Mary Magdalene or as in the life of Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, a moment of illumination came first, changing the mind, and then the great change of life followed. Ratisbonne, in Church of Sant'Andrea delle Fratte in Rome, in January of 1842, had a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary which led to his conversion to Catholicism, his ordination as a Jesuit priest, and his founding of the order, the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion, an order designed to convert our Jewish brothers and sisters. Illumination may follow a moment of conversion, but for many, this illumination comes gradually, over months, even years.

The third step we see in the life of St. Paul. After his dramatic conversion, he went into the desert for ten years before beginning his ministry of converting the Gentiles. Ten years in the mind of modern lay people seems a long time of preparation for evangelizing, but Paul allowed God to renew his mind before beginning his mission to the world.

This step is missed by too many Catholics, who jump into "ministries", (a word we have been asked by the Pope Emeritus not to use with regard to lay work, even in the Church). and neglect the needed inner purification of the mind and imagination, as well as the outer purification of the senses, those choices which made one wordly. Most Catholics would not see the value of a ten-year desert experience, and think they are expected to jump in and "do"something for the Church. There is a reason why the Jesuits, for example, take ten years to become priests, and, perhaps, St. Ignatius decided to imitate the desert experience of St. Paul in his organization of the formation of the exterior and interior life. It is interesting to me that all Jesuits must learn Spanish, in order to study the works of St. Ignatius. Many learn yet another language in order to do missionary work across the world. St. Paul, as a Jew with Roman citizenship, knew Hebrew, street Greek, Latin, and most likely, classical Greek. In order to preach in Macedonia, he must have learned other languages as well. Latin was the common language of the time, but St. Paul's journeys indicate a wide knowledge of customs as well as languages.

St, Paul took ten years to become holy enough to take the next step, which is following the Will of God, which one cannot necessarily discern after an initial conversion. Too many people rush into various vocations only to realize later that they were called to something else. Discernment comes with prayer, fasting, mortification.

The last step involves the giving up of one's will to God. I shall end this meditation with a long quotation from St. Thomas Aquinas, on the giving up of one's will, as a action necessary to find perfection. Each one of us must choose to be hidden in Christ, to feed the spiritual life of the world within. This process may take years, as it has done with me, as I was busy about many things and did not "get serious" about my spiritual life until my bout with cancer. When one faces possible death, one's energies become focused.

Readers, other Catholics will want you to conform to their Catholicity, whereas God is calling many to be signs of contradiction in the world. a call for all Catholics, but only a few, it seems, respond.

In this day of idolatry of work, success, the accumulation of things, such a radical call to be Christ in the world threatens even Catholics. As lay people, we may be called to give up what is naturally and rightly part of the lay life. To give up these rights may be necessary for the salvation of some souls. Sadly, too many American Catholics have conformed their minds to the Declaration of Independence, demanding rights and a lifestyle of pursuing "happiness" on earth, one of the greatest heresies of the 1776 document. As Catholics, one must think of older documents, older teachings, those of Christ Himself, in order to be freed from this pursuit of happiness on earth, which is definitely not the call of the Christian. Joyfulness is not happiness. Those material pursuits confuse the building of the City of Man with the building of the City of God.

In Psalm 65 above, one sees David noting that renewal of the heart, mind and soul results in God hearing our prayers. If one's prayers are not being answered, one reason might be that one is "cherishing" a hidden sin.

Here is St. Thomas on perfection from this book online:
http://www.pathsoflove.com/aquinas/perfection-of-the-spiritual-life.html#chapter10

It is not only necessary for the perfection of charity that a man should sacrifice his exterior possessions: he must also, in a certain sense, relinquish himself. Dionysius, in De Divinis Nominibus IV, says that, “divine love causes a man to be out of himself, meaning thereby, that this love suffers him no longer to belong to himself but to Him whom he loves.”St. Paul, writing to the Galatians, illustrates this state by his own example, saying, “I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20), as if he did not count his life as his own, but as belonging to Christ, and as if he spurned all that he possessed, in order to cleave to Him. He further shows that this state reaches perfection in certain souls; for he says to the Colossians, “For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). Again, he exhorts others to the same sublimity of love, in his second Epistle to the Corinthians, “And Christ died for all, that they also who live, may not now live to themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor 5:15). Therefore, when our Lord had said, “If any man comes to me, and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters,” He added something greater than all these, saying, “yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). He teaches the same thing in the Gospel of St. Matthew when He says, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Mat 16:24).

This practice of salutary self-abnegation, and charitable self-hatred, is, in part, necessary for all men in order to salvation, and is, partly, a point of perfection. As we have already seen from the words of Dionysius quoted above, it is in the nature of divine love that he who loves should belong, not to himself, but, to the one beloved. It is necessary, therefore, that self-abnegation and self-hatred be proportionate to the degree of divine love existing in an individual soul. It is essential to salvation that a man should love God to such a degree, as to make Him his end, and to do nothing which he believes to be opposed to the Divine love. Consequently, self-hatred and self-denial are necessary for salvation. Hence St. Gregory says, in his Homily, “We relinquish and deny ourselves when we avoid what we were wont (through the old man dwelling in us) to be, and when we strive after that to which (by the new man) we are called.” In another homily he likewise says, “We hate our own life when we do not condescend to carnal desires, but resist the appetites and pleasures of the flesh.”

But in order to attain perfection, we must further, for the love of God, sacrifice what we might lawfully use, in order, thus to be more free to devote ourselves to Him. It follows, therefore, that self-hatred, and self-denial, pertain to perfection. We see that our Lord speaks of them as if they belonged to it. For, just as in the Gospel of St. Matthew he says, “If you would be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor,” (Mat 19:21) but does not lay any necessity on us to do so, leaving it to our own will, so He likewise says, “if any man would come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24). St. Chrysostom thus explains these words, “Christ does not make his saying compulsory; He does not say, ‘whether you like it or not, you must bear these things.’” In the same manner, when He says: “If any man will come after Me and hate not his father” etc. (Luke 14:28), He immediately asks, “Which of you having a mind to build a tower, does not first sit down, and reckon the charges that are necessary, whether) he have enough to finish it?” St. Gregory in his Homily thus expounds these words, “The precepts which Christ gives are sublime, and, therefore, the comparison between them and the building of a high tower shortly follows them.” And he says again, “That young man could not have had enough to finish his tower who, when he heard the counsel to leave all things, went away sad.” We may hence understand, that these words of our Lord refer, in a certain manner, to a counsel of perfection.