Well, the problems of bad catechesis proliferate. I have been talking with so many young people who either are cradle Catholics or are converts who came through local RCIAs. There seems to be a lack of understanding in three areas which they have brought up to me.
The first is a woeful lack of knowledge of the Creed. The Creed, of course, is the main subject of the CCC, and therefore, some good commentary is available to all people from age 12 up or so. As Catholics, we are a credal people and not to have understood or studied the Creed reveals that the basics have not been taught. Without an understanding of the Creed, one is, sadly, an ignorant Catholic. But, this information is not secret and can be found on line as well as in the printed version of the CCC and the Compendium.
The second area of concern revealed in these conversations is almost no knowledge of what Tradition and Revelation mean. Most Catholics think like Protestants and think that only the information in the Scripture is binding, or infallible. The lacuna of understanding regarding where infallibility lies disturbs me. One meets two extremes in the younger Catholics-one, some think all the Pope states is infallible; two, some do not know what teachings are infallible. Sadly, some priests have given bad teaching on these points. A Catholic must know what the teachings of the Church are in order the think and live like a Catholic.
The third area of confusion has to do with sexual ethics. The younger Catholics have not been given clear and consistent teaching locally on ssm, ssa, NFP, and chastity.
However, the good news is that many of the Millennials want the real deal about Catholic teaching. Many of the seminarians have noted that they are more conservative, that is, more Catholic than their parents. Good thing, too....
Have mercy on us, God. They could have held the Catholic position and said no. Horrible. So many people who cooperate with evil do not understand that the evil is now their responsibility.
As I am borrowing the latest publication from J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Arthur, and finally beginning to read it, I shall comment on this amazing poem later.
Tolkien's writings have formed the imagination of several generations of readers and cinema buffs, of course. But, the genius of his writings escapes most eyes. He is truly one of the last centuries' greatest philologists. Recall, also, that he was one of those scholars who worked on the Jerusalem Bible.
Having the joy of teaching the Arthurian myths to classes of eager students long ago, I have studied the various works concerning Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot, including the Mabinogion. Of course, my studies in David Jones would have been another connection to the corpus of works.
I have a strange academic background at the doctoral level, as I took the courses at ND for a Medieval Literature Degree as well as the Modern Poetry and Literature Degree, as I could not make up my mind which to follow for a career. Then, after all my exams and beginning my thesis, I ended up in Theology at Bristol. As it happened, the overlaps proved invaluable. I think I am one of the few people who has actually read some of the arcane Middle English poems and Breton lais which would have been the stuff of Tolkien's daily study. However, his amazing talents lie in earlier poetry, from the Anglo-Saxon and Norse periods, which I studied a bit, but did not pursue as a specialty. Of course, who does not love all of these great poems and epics, even in translation? W. H. Auden, another great scholar, said that Tolkien's poem in The Return of the King, concerning the Battle of Pelennor Fields was the best example of the ancient genre. Quite a compliment from one of the best poets of the 20th Century......
Here is a section
We heard of the horns in the hills ringing, the swords shining in the South-kingdom. Steeds went striding to the Stoningland as wind in the morning. War was kindled. There Théoden fell, Thengling mighty, to his golden halls and green pastures in the Northern fields never returning, high lord of the host. Harding and Guthláf Dúnhere and Déorwine, doughty Grimbold, Herefara and Herubrand, Horn and Fastred, fought and fell there in a far country: in the Mounds of Mundburg under mould they lie with their league-fellows, lords of Gondor. Neither Hirluin the Fair to the hills by the sea, nor Forlong the old to the flowering vales ever, to Arnach, to his own country returned in triumph; nor the tall bowmen, Derufin and Duilin, to their dark waters, meres of Morthond under mountain-shadows. Death in the morning and at day's ending lords took and lowly. Long now they sleep under grass in Gondor by the Great River. Grey now as tears, gleaming silver, red then it rolled, roaring water: foam dyed with blood flamed at sunset; as beacons mountains burned at evening; red fell the dew in Rammas Echor. The Lord of the Rings Song of the Mounds of Mundberg, The Return of the King Book 5, Chapter 'The Battle of the Pelennor Fields'.
His review of that book from 1956 may be found here.
As I tell friends, one of the reasons I loved the Medieval studies so much was that all the nice students were in Medieval and the nasty ones in Modern. Hmmm. And, as another aside, I still have one of my 1970s calendars of Tolkien, by the Hildebrandt brothers, one of whom, Greg, some of you may recognize as the painter of the famous portrait of Ven. Fulton J. Sheen. This calendar is the only one I have left, although I bought them each year in the seventies for several years.
Here is a sample of one of my favorite poems below. I shall get back to the Tolkien later. For some history on the Arthurian texts, check out this site here. By the way, a person has to be a little crazy to take an entire class on The Faerie Queene.
A selection from The Perle.
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'O perle', quod I, 'in perle3 py3t, Art þou my perle þat I haf playned, Regretted by myn one on ny3te? Much longeyng haf I for þe layned, Syþen into gresse þou me agly3te. Pensyf, payred, I am forpayned, And þou in a lyf of lykyng ly3te, In Paradys erde, of stryf vnstrayned. What wyrde hat3 hyder my iuel vayned, And don me in þys del and gret daunger? Fro we in twynne wern towen and twayned, I haf ben a joyle3 juelere.'That juel þenne in gemme3 gente Vered vp her vyse wyth y3en graye, Set on hyr coroun of perle orient, And soberly after þenne con ho say: 'Sir, 3e haf your tale mysetente, To say your perle is al awaye, Þat is in cofer so comly clente As in þis gardyn gracios gaye, Hereinne to lenge for euer and play, Þer mys nee mornyng com neuer nere. Her were a forser for þe, in faye, If þou were a gentyl jueler.
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'Bot, jueler gente, if þou schal lose Þy ioy for a gemme þat þe wat3 lef, Me þynk þe put in a mad porpose, And busye3 þe aboute a raysoun bref; For þat þou leste3 wat3 bot a rose Þat flowred and fayled as kynde hyt gef. Now þur3 kynde of þe kyste þat hyt con close To a perle of prys hit is put in pref. And þou hat3 called þy wyrde a þef, Þat o3t of no3t hat3 mad þe cler; Þou blame3 þe bote of þy meschef, Þou art no kynde jueler.'A juel to me þen wat3 þys geste, And iuele3 wern hyr gentyl sawe3. 'Iwyse', quod I, 'my blysfol beste, My grete dystresse þou al todrawe3. To be excused I make requeste; I trawed my perle don out of dawe3. Now haf I fonde hyt, I schal ma feste, And wony wyth hyt in schyr wod-schawe3, And loue my Lorde and al his lawe3 Þat hat3 me bro3t þys blys ner. Now were I at yow by3onde þise wawe3, I were a ioyful jueler.'
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'Jueler', sayde þat gemme clene, 'Wy borde 3e men? So madde 3e be! Þre worde3 hat3 þou spoken at ene: Vnavysed, for soþe, wern alle þre. Þou ne woste in worlde quat on dot3 mene; Þy worde byfore þy wytte con fle. Þou says þou trawe3 me in þis dene, Bycawse þou may wyth y3en me se; Anoþer þou says, in þys countré Þyself schal won wyth me ry3t here; Þe þrydde, to passe þys water fre -- Þat may no ioyfol jueler.
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'I halde þat iueler lyttel to prayse Þat leue3 wel þat he se3 wyth y3e, And much to blame and vncortayse Þat leue3 oure Lorde wolde make a ly3e, Þat lelly hy3te your lyf to rayse, Þa3 fortune dyd your flesch to dy3e. 3e setten hys worde3 ful westernays Þat leue3 noþynk bot 3e hit sy3e. And þat is a poynt o sorquydry3e, Þat vche god mon may euel byseme, To leue no tale be true to try3e Bot þat hys one skyl may dem.
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'Deme now þyself if þou con dayly As man to God worde3 schulde heue. Þou sayt3 þou schal won in þis bayly; Me þynk þe burde fyrst aske leue, And 3et of graunt þou my3te3 fayle. Þou wylne3 ouer þys water to weue; Er moste þou ceuer to oþer counsayle: Þy corse in clot mot calder keue. For hit wat3 forgarte at Paradys greue; Oure 3orefader hit con mysse3eme. Þur3 drwry deth bo3 vch man dreue, Er ouer þys dam hym Dry3tyn deme.'' Deme3 þou me', quod I, 'my swete, To dol agayn, þenne I dowyne. Now haf I fonte þat I forlete, Schal I efte forgo hit er euer I fyne? Why schal I hit boþe mysse and mete? My precios perle dot3 me gret pyne. What serue3 tresor, bot gare3 men grete When he hit schal efte wyth tene3 tyne? Now rech I neuer for to declyne, Ne how fer of folde þat man me fleme. When I am partle3 of perle myne, Bot durande doel what may men deme?'
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'Thow deme3 no3t bot doel-dystresse', Þenne sayde þat wy3t. 'Why dot3 þou so For dyne of doel of lure3 lesse Ofte mony mon forgos þe mo. Þe o3te better þyseluen blesse, And loue ay God, in wele and wo, For anger gayne3 þe not a cresse. Who nede3 schal þole, be not so þro. For þo3 þou daunce as any do, Braundysch and bray þy braþe3 breme, When þou no fyrre may, to ne fro, Þou moste abyde þat he schal deme.' Deme Dry3tyn, euer hym adyte, Of þe way a fote ne wyl he wryþe. Þy mende3 mounte3 not a myte, Þa3 þou for sor3e be neuer blyþe. Stynt of þy strot and fyne to flyte, And sech hys blyþe ful swefte and swyþe. Þy prayer may hys pyté byte, Þat mercy schal hyr crafte3 kyþe. Hys comforte may þy langour lyþe And þy lure3 of ly3tly fleme; For, marre oþer madde, morne and myþe, Al lys in hym to dy3t and deme.'
When I was in my twenties and thirties, the popular Bible studies for women were based on the characteristics of certain women in the Bible. Most of these were Protestant based. Such holy women as Ruth, Esther, Judith and others were highlighted with a particular virtue. I do not know if these are still floating around out there, and I have written my own thoughts on some women on this post, which you can find. I have emphasized Judith, Ruth and Deborah.
Of course, we have the most perfect woman of all as our model, Mary, Mother of God.
However, besides her great faith, hope and love, what virtues can we see in order to emulate her daily?
Let us look at a few. Mary's obedience is the hallmark of the Annunciation, as well as her meekness and trust in Providence. We do not see a panicking youth, but a calm and cooperating spirit open to God's Will.
We also see prudence, as Mary did not run out and tell people of her special position. A mark of a real saint is humility, another virtue.
The silent years of Christ in the home of Joseph and Mary remind us that Mary had to have and did, of course, all the virtues a woman needs in running a peaceful house. I like to think of Mary having the fullness of the Spirit and therefore the fullness of the virtues of temperance, justice, prudence and fortitude. We know in our own lives how much we, as women, need these virtues.
Remember, we are entering into perilous times, when the woman with virtue will be needed more than ever. A great trust in Providence will be a necessity.
Ask Mary for a removal of the blocks we put up in our lives through sin which stop the flow of the virtues given at baptism and the gifts of confirmation. Ask to become an interiorly beautiful woman.
It is our duty as women to learn humility and beg God for the full loosening of the virtues in our lives.
When I was younger, I use to marvel at these handsome men who married less than pretty women. I would think in my adolescent brain, "What does he see in her?" Well, those men had more sense than those who chose for exterior beauty only. These handsome men saw the real beauty of these plain girls-their virtues. Two of my plain friends are extremely holy women.
Listening to Father Chad Ripperger on what type of woman makes a good wife, I was thrilled to hear him say that virtue is more important than beauty. He went so far to say that if a woman is ugly but virtuous, marry her.
This problem of not looking for the virtuous but for the outward beauty for men is that they buy the culture's obsession with beauty instead of virtue. The women of our culture are also obsessed with outward beauty.
As Catholics, we have models of virtuous women, which I shall write about in my next post.
Now, do we have to dress like the Amish? No, and we have had this conversation on this blog before. But, the problem is not merely modesty. The lack of formation from parents allow this preoccupation with outward looks instead of inward beauty. One can look at my series on virtues and formation for more on that subject.
One question has to be, how can we adjust our views either as parents or as women on developing inward beauty? What does it mean to be a virtuous woman? Fr. Ripperger goes through the famous Biblical passage from Proverbs 31-10-31. This is a good meditation for both parents and daughters.
However, the real problem lies in the predominant faults of pride and vainglory. A parent can actually encourage faults rather than form the opposite virtues. This is a hard lesson for many moms to learn, but frequently they pass on their preoccupation with the latest cloths to their daughters. To be "in" becomes more important than being virtuous. Moms can encourage the predominant faults of pride and vainglory.
I am in complete agreement with Father Ripperger on this point. Single men, if you find a virtuous woman, marry her. Do not pass her up if she is not Miss America or poor. In fact, those plain women and poor women may have become virtuous because they were not raised to be princesses. They did not expect the handsome prince because they were and are humble.
As Father Ripperger states, if a man marries a virtuous woman, his life will be happy. If a man marries for beauty instead without virtue, he will be miserable.
The cause which is blocking all progress today is the subtle scepticism which whispers in a million ears that things are not good enough to be worth improving. If the world is good we are revolutionaries, if the world is evil we must be conservatives. These essays, futile as they are considered as serious literature, are yet ethically sincere, since they seek to remind men that things must be loved first and improved afterwards. G. K. Chesterton "In Defence Of A New Edition" - Preface to the second edition (1902)
"We cannot violate our vows by participating in the government's program to provide access to abortion-inducing drugs,” Sister Loraine Marie said of a class-action lawsuit filed against the mandate on behalf of multiple religious organizations that provide health benefits.
I write for my fellow Catholics who still believe in this government. I write for my fellow Catholics who voted for Obama twice. I write for my fellow Catholics who do not seem to know that all the Popes for over one hundred years have condemned socialism.
You have not been paying attention. A marriage tax in Obamacare...
Late term abortionist to speak in Dublin: RTÉ presenter chairing talk
Dear Lynda,
This Saturday, a US based late-term abortionist, Shelley Sella, will speak at the Irish Film Institute before the screening of a movie paying homage to those who specialise in late-term abortion.
Sella has been accused by a former abortion nurse, Tina David, of stabbing to death a 35 week old baby who survived an abortion in her care. She, and three other late-term abortionists are feted in the movie, After Tiller, which glosses over the horror of late-term abortion.
One of those three is LeRoy Carhart, an abortionist based in Maryland, where Jennifer McKenna Morbelli, and her 33-week-old preborn daughter, Madison Leigh, died in his clinic of February of this year.
Let's be clear: Sella and her colleagues perform abortions right up until birth. This is grim, horrific stuff - yet it is all santised in the movie, After Tiller, which portrays late-term abortionists as kindly, compassionate doctors.
No mention is made, of course, of Kermit Gosnell or other 'house of horrors' abortion clinics where almost full term babies are killed every day. The Irish media have, predictably, done all they can to promote the movie - with the Irish Times running a wholly uncritical and sympathetic interview with Sella last week, where adoption, foetal pain, and better options for mothers were all dismissed with standard propoganda statements from the abortion industry.
Keelin Shanley will interview Sella prior to the screening; no doubt another soft conversation where abortionists are held up as modern-day saints.
SPEAK UP FOR UNBORN BABIES AND AGAINST THIS PROMOTION OF LATE-TERM ABORTION.
Call or email the following organisations and tell them you wish to complain about their sponsorship of an event which is condoning and praising the barbaric practice, and practitioners, of late-term abortions, and indeed the fact that your taxes are funding it.
Ask them, as a taxpayer, to demand that this film - and its 'protagonist' - which commends this sickening practice be withdrawn from the program. Should this be refused, demand that your taxes are withdrawn as sponsorship.
*On foetal pain, an anesthesiology professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. Ray Paschall, who has done more surgeries with foetal anesthesia than any doctor in the world, said that babies feel pain not only before birth but before viability.
His statement follows the work of Dr. Kawaljeet Anand, who has argued that a foetus or premature newborn may actually feel pain more intensely than an older newborn. He asserted in a 2007 congressional testimony on foetal pain legislation that a "foetus at 20 to 32 weeks of gestation would experience a much more intense pain than older infants or children or adults" because certain pain mechanisms are in play much earlier, while "fibers which dampen and modulate the experience of pain" are delayed until between 32-34 weeks.
When a wave of attacks on churches and Christian properties swept across Egypt last month, this city was hit the worst.
Minya's streets are now lined with burned-out hulks. Church interiors have been reduced to ash. The once-cheerful turquoise exterior of a Christian orphanage is now streaked black from the fire that gutted it. Destroyed wheelchairs sit outside a burned-out Jesuit center that worked with disabled people. Torched schools, shops, and monasteries lie in ruins. On one street, several Christian-owned shops are reduced to scorched rubble. Nearby, an untouched snack shop blares a song that proclaims “Egypt is Islamic ...
I copied this list from an old novel I have been reading which is sickening sweet about a country priest in the 19th century. The book is not worth reading. The word I would use it cloying. However, the little list of papers the priest wanted to write and never did reminded me how far seminary training has fallen into disarray. Can you imagine your modern priests having the ability to wax eloquent on these subjects?
Pray for seminarians in America, Europe, Africa, South America, etc. They need to have the mental training to fight modernism and the evils of the day not only with prayer and fasting, but with their good minds.
The classical education reinstated by St. Anselm in the seminaries has all but disappeared.
I. Mental Philosophy. I. The Influence of Plato on the Early Christian Church. II. The Influence of Aristotle on the Mediæval Church. III. The Neo-Platonists. IV. The Argument in St. Augustine on the Immortality of the Soul. (Is it Tenable?) V. The Atomic Theory of Democritus, and the Modern Discoveries in Astronomy. VI. The Influence of the Inductive Philosophy on Modern Disbelief. VII. Was Spinoza an Atheist? VIII. Is Descartes the Father of Modern Rationalism? IX. St. Anselm's Proof of the Existence of God. X. The Cosmological Argument of St. John Damascene. XI. The Argument from Intuition. XII. Aspects of Modern Pantheism. XIII. Christian Idealism. XIV. Malebranche and Fénelon. XV. Boëthius. XVI. Catholic Philosophers of the Nineteenth Century. XVII. The Connection between Soul and Body (Tertullian). XVIII. The Chaldæan Doctrine of the Soul (εσσαμενοσ πυριρυρ). XIX. The Idea of Personality. XX. The Identification of Life and Motion. XXI. Maine de Biran. XXII. The Popularization of Catholic Philosophy.
II. Ecclesiastical History. I. The Alexandrian School. II. The Writings of Clement. III. Origen, and his Works. IV. Ephrem the Syrian, and his Works. V. The Apologists. VI. The Three Cappadocians. VII. Julian and his Contemporaries. VIII. The Council of Nicæa. IX. St. Augustine and the Donatists. X. The Saints of the Catacombs. XI. The Discipline of the Secret. XII. The Libyan and Nitrean Anchorites XIII. The Stylites. XIV. Communion in the Early Church. XV. Mediævalism. XVI. The Case of Honorius. XVII. Hildebrand. XVIII. Alexander VI. and Savonarola. XIX. Origin and Spread of Monasticism. XX. The Influence of the Irish Monks on the Continent of Europe. XXI. Schools of Philosophy. XXII. Port-Royal, Pascal, Nicole, Arnauld. XXIII. The Rise and Progress of Jansenism. XXIV. Gallicanism and National Churches.
Can one imagine having such discussions today with the local pp?
As those who follow this blog know well, I have written on the three types of men in our present society. The protector, the predator and the peter pan male represent either maturity and goodness, evil, or stunted growth.
I have been contemplating the reason why so many young male youths fall away from the Church here in Ireland. The numbers of non-practicing youth are staggering. Yesterday, I posted the article on statistics of belief and non-belief among college age youth.
The hidden root of some of this disaffection is weak male leadership in the home, the Church, and in government and business.
The protector male protects not only his wife and children, but society and culture. He has a stake in the national consciousness of being individuals with a common heart, a common purpose.
Negativity is not part of the attitude of the protector, nor is cynicism, signs of the peter pan syndrome.
Here in Ireland, peter pans dominant. Some women have told me they would never marry an Irishman because they do not take their place as heads of families, but prefer passivity to leadership.
Yesterday, a good priest told me that a major evil in the priesthood is sloth. Sloth is the hardest predominant fault to combat and finally destroy according to Garrigou-Lagrange.
Sloth leads to abdication of roles, a nine to five attitude towards duty, a curtailing of personal growth. That sloth can be found in some who are priests is a tragedy for the laity. Without leadership, the ship of the Church crashes on the rocks of sin. This is the case here. The Church has been greatly weakened by sloth and laxity. I think in some places such lax men are called "couch potatoes".
How many men do we know who do not engage in necessary conflict as it is too painful or disturbing for them? They want a quiet life. Sadly, the days of the country curate living a quiet life fishing and reading the classics, doing the minimum for his parish are days gone by, only to be found in literature.
The Church finds Herself in the midst of the worst battles seen for centuries. Sloth does not win battles. Hard work and simplicity do.
Slothful men lay down the staff of leadership and like the bad shepherd allow the wolves to enter the fold.
That one priest can criticize some of his fellow priests shows the depth of the problem here. Youth can spot a hypocrite a mile away and the bad priests and neglectful husbands and fathers will have to face God as to why they did not work on their predominant fault.
Being a Catholic man, like being a Catholic woman, entails hard work.
We are battling for our soul and the souls of others. There is no time for sloth. This quaint phrase from a popular old book on country curates is not true in 2013: 'T WILL BE ALL THE SAME IN A HUNDRED YEARS. No, it will not, despite all those who dream of the old days when men did not necessarily have to measure up to the great role of protector. I shall do a post on Friday on the predominant faults of women.
St. Ignatius asks us to pay attention to the process of using memory, moving to understanding, and then employing the will in prayer.
I have written many times on this movement in the perfection series. Just use the labels below. However, this morning, I want to note that the understanding can lead one to more gratitude in one's life.
This process is found in the Psalms of David. David remembers the goodness of the Lord and thinks of all the graces he has received. Then, he understands Who God Is and who he, one of God's beloved creatures, is.
Understanding is the beginning of gratitude. The praises in the Psalms can reflect our gratitude as well. We think of the good things the Lord has done for us and we embrace great thankfulness.
Thanking God for graces becomes part of meditation. It is also part of the Dark Night of the Soul, when God reveals Himself as He really is. The smallness of the human condition and the reality of the fact that we must rely on God alone and not ourselves comes from gratitude. In other words, real humility, bubbling forth from the truth of who we are makes us grateful.
What does one will? This process leads to love. The grateful heart is one which loves God first. Willing love means following God's Will and not one's own. Willing equals the regime of prayer, fasting, worship. and charity.
Memory, understanding and will demand reflection. A half-hour of Scripture reading, one's Lectio Divina, is all that is necessary.
Psalm 8
Unto the end, for the presses: a psalm of David.
2 O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in the whole earth! For thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens.
3 Out of the mouth of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise, because of thy enemies, that thou mayst destroy the enemy and the avenger.
4 For I will behold thy heavens, the works of thy fingers: the moon and the stars which thou hast founded.
5 What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him?
6 Thou hast made him a little less than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honour:
7 And hast set him over the works of thy hands.
8 Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen: moreover the beasts also of the fields.
9 The birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, that pass through the paths of the sea.
10 O Lord our Lord, how admirable is thy name in all the earth
It has been brought to my attention that there are many, many, many covens of witches in Ireland as well as in Great Britain. I knew about some in England, as friends of mine live in Kent, where this sort of thing proliferates.
But, I did not expect the numbers here. Now, I know that New Agey stuff and neo-paganism is popular in Ireland, as I came across this last year in March and in December. Some friends of mine had pointed out the number of solstice gatherings in the summer and in the winter.
But the reason I am referring to the covens is twofold.
Firstly, not enough parents are talking to their children about the evils of the occult. One of my friend's boys came home from secondary school today and started asking his dad about satanism. Apparently, it is becoming the rage in certain parts of rural England.
Thankfully, my friend, being a catechist and also being a good father could explain things in a doctrinal, yet simple matter. He simply went through the Ten Commandments and showed how satanists did the opposite in each case, starting with the First Commandment.
Young people need parents who can discuss these things. On my previous blog, I had a series on this, as I was living in a place in Iowa where there were too many covens. One of my fellow professors at a college was head of one. I had to deal with students involved, getting involved, or wanting to get out of covens.
But, here, it is the cool thing to do, sadly, which brings me to my second point.
Most young people who get involved do not fully understand what they are doing until it is too late.
They fall for the lies of power and fellowship, coming to a realization that they have damned themselves by cooperating with evil too late.
Sex and drugs are, of course, involved as well. But, the spirit of rebellion leads many young people astray.
Parents must watch for signs of occult involvement. This is one of our duties.
Here are some hints:
One, is your child not telling you where he is going and is not introducing you to his new friends?
Two, is he becoming more reclusive and even moody? Are there personality changes? Is he having identity changes?
Three, has he changed his manner of dressing, wearing animal amulets, or other new jewelry? Is he attached to an animal and buying statues or other representations of that animal? Does he have new tattoos?
Four, is he interested in kabalism, or the ancient religion of the Egyptians, into symbolism and the gods and goddesses of such in a fanatic way?
Five, does he stay overnight with friends you not know and whose parents you do not know?
Six, is he going to Mass every Sunday? Does he go to Communion? Has he stopped doing this?
Seven, is he into tarot cards or deviant art?
Eight, has he dropped his old Catholic friends for a set of new ones?
Nine, does he has new adult friends you have not met and should meet?
Ten, is he going to meetings at night and not talking about these?
Most parents tragically do not pay attention to the adult children living in their home. But, wicca usually starts in secondary school or college. Pay attention. Some kids get introduced to these things on line or at camp. I knew a boy of 12 who was doing blood sacrifices of animals with his friends and following on line wicca sites.
I hate to write about this, but it is a reality in our world. Pray, think, act.
PRAYER TO
SAINT MICHAEL
THE ARCHANGEL
St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
