Saturday, May 29, 2010
Burqa Barbie
Animal Sacrifices to Zombies
Shoot Pope, Correct Bible
The Turkish man who attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981 has said he wants political asylum in Croatia, where he plans to write a new Bible. In a message delivered through his lawyers, Mehmet Ali Agca told the influential Vecernji List newspaper in Zagreb (Jan. 24): "Croatia is a Catholic country and I am a Catholic. I am preparing to write a new Bible and correct mistakes and I would like to do that in Catholic Croatia since Italy and Spain refused to grant me asylum." Agca was released from a Turkish prison in January after serving nearly three decades behind bars. In rambling letters from prison, he has given a number of indications suggesting he is mentally disturbed. Agca, for example, also said in a written statement that he would prove he is the Messiah "through Vatican documents."
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| Blessed John Paul II forgiving the man who shot him |
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Of Sheep and Men
This is the bulk of a homily by a learned and wise professor and priest.
Sheep are mentioned more than 500 times in Scripture, which is significantly more than any other animal. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, sheep are the favorite analogy in describing people and their relationship with the Father in heaven. We are sheep. While being sheep of our Lord's flock is a blessing, it isn't much of a compliment, I am afraid!
But maybe it is; let's see and have a closer look.
There are quite some negative traits that can be pointed out about sheep:
Sheep of all domestic animals require the most care and supervision. Left to themselves, sheep have an unlimited capacity for getting into trouble.
1) Sheep are compelled by mob instinct. Sheep take their queues from each other. If one sheep panics, they all panic. They tend to go with the flow, even if the flow is going in the wrong direction. They have a tendency to wander off. Sheep are forever getting lost.2) Sheep are very susceptible to fear. The average sheep is a coward. One loud noise of any kind - it doesn't have to be the howl of a wolf - sends the flock in every direction. When confronted with danger, sheep panic.
3) Sheep are very destructive. Sheep have the very bad habit of being very hard on the pasture. When they graze they don't trim the grass they eat. They bite down and pull up, removing the roots, and not only the stems.
4) Sheep are very vulnerable to predators. Among animals, sheep are wimps. They are weak, slow, stupid and defenseless.
5) Sheep have an incredible ability to get dirty. They easily turn every shade of gray and brown imaginable. Sheep get dirty and stay that way until somebody cleans them up.
Whether we like it or not, we are in many ways like sheep. As time passes we get dirty, until it becomes obvious that we need a good cleaning. God offers a good cleaning in the Sacrament of Confession. We require more care than any other animal and God loves to give us that care. We have a mob instinct, but when that is channeled, it can become a great show of unity. We are subject to fear, but he gives us courage and the peace that surpasses all our understanding. We are also timid, but he makes us brave. All of us have a tendency to wander off now and then, but our shepherd always finds us. He forgives us and cleans us so that we are ever presentable to God the Father.
The most important thing is that sheep are clearly God's favorite animals. In a world filled with majestic animals like lions, horses and eagles, the Lord chose sheep. And there isn't a better metaphor in Scripture for our relationship to God. We are his sheep. God's sheep have a special role to play in God's plan:
1) Sheep have horns. The first trumpets were ram's horns. Those ram's horns or trumpets were announcing the presence of the Lord (see Joshua.) They were instruments of praise. They were part of a mighty victory. The trumpet sound was made with a ram's horn. That means that sheep can literally be instruments of praise. We, being the Lord's sheep, can announce his presence and majesty.
2) Sheep are the favorite meat in the Middle East; they also give us milk and wool. Sheepskins are used for shelter and clothing. Sheep bones can be made into sewing needles and are used as scraping tools. Intestines are made into strings for musical instruments. There is much goodness and usefulness in sheep. Nothing or almost nothing is wasted. We can be instruments of God's bounty and mercy, more effectively than any sheep that ever lived. What being God's sheep means more than anything is that we have great potential in God's plan. Once in his flock, even our weaknesses become strengths.
3) Sheep plant seeds that will ensure future pastures. In biblical times, sheep were instrumental in planting seeds. During harvest, wheat seeds were knocked from the wheat stalks onto the ground. They would lay on the surface and be eaten by the birds. This is when shepherds would bring their flocks into the fields. The pointed cloven hooves of the sheep would make holes one-half to one inch deep, and the seed would be pressed into the ground. Seed planting is one of our main responsibilities as part of God's flock. God's word must be pressed into the ground of our minds and hearts. The harvest will be the Kingdom of God.
With all this, how can we still doubt that we are God's favorite animal? And should some doubt still linger, think of this: I am one of God's sheep, and he was willing to die for me. Nothing we have ever done declares our value in God's eye more than Christ's death for us. At that historic moment, Jesus laid down his life on the cross for his sheep, and we became priceless. Even the least of Christ's sheep is of more value than anything else on earth, and the same price was paid for all of us. We may then conclude with Erasmus of Rotterdam: "O dumb sheep you! Did it ever dawn on you that it has pleased God to save the world by foolishness, since it could never be redeemed by wisdom?"
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Authority and Vatican II
Some in the Catholic Church love Vatican II because they think it finally brought the Catholic Church out of the dark ages. Some suspect the Second Vatican Council because they fear it sold out faithfulness to the truth in favor of current opinion.
This excerpt from Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, paragraph 25, explains the authority of the Magisterium or Apostolic teaching authority of the Church and the way in which Catholics are bound to submit to that authority.
25. Among the principal duties of bishops the preaching of the Gospel occupies an eminent place.(39*) For bishops are preachers of the faith, who lead new disciples to Christ, and they are authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach to the people committed to them the faith they must believe and put into practice, and by the light of the Holy Spirit illustrate that faith. They bring forth from the treasury of Revelation new things and old,(164) making it bear fruit and vigilantly warding off any errors that threaten their flock.(165) Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking.
Although the individual bishops do not enjoy the prerogative of infallibility, they nevertheless proclaim Christ's doctrine infallibly whenever, even though dispersed through the world, but still maintaining the bond of communion among themselves and with the successor of Peter, and authentically teaching matters of faith and morals, they are in agreement on one position as definitively to be held.(40*) This is even more clearly verified when, gathered together in an ecumenical council, they are teachers and judges of faith and morals for the universal Church, whose definitions must be adhered to with the submission of faith.(41*)
And this infallibility, with which the Divine Redeemer willed His Church to be endowed in defining doctrine of faith and morals, extends as far as the deposit of Revelation extends, which must be religiously guarded and faithfully expounded. And this is the infallibility which the Roman Pontiff, the head of the college of bishops, enjoys in virtue of his office, when, as the supreme shepherd and teacher of all the faithful, who confirms his brethren in their faith,(166) by a definitive act he proclaims a doctrine of faith or morals.(42*) And therefore his definitions, of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, are justly styled irreformable, since they are pronounced with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, promised to him in blessed Peter, and therefore they need no approval of others, nor do they allow an appeal to any other judgment. For then the Roman Pontiff is not pronouncing judgment as a private person, but as the supreme teacher of the universal Church, in whom the charism of infallibility of the Church itself is individually present, he is expounding or defending a doctrine of Catholic faith.(43*) The infallibility promised to the Church resides also in the body of Bishops, when that body exercises the supreme magisterium with the successor of Peter. To these definitions the assent of the Church can never be wanting, on account of the activity of that same Holy Spirit, by which the whole flock of Christ is preserved and progresses in unity of faith.(44*)
But when either the Roman Pontiff or the Body of Bishops together with him defines a judgment, they pronounce it in accordance with Revelation itself, which all are obliged to abide by and be in conformity with, that is, the Revelation which as written or orally handed down is transmitted in its entirety through the legitimate succession of bishops and especially in care of the Roman Pontiff himself, and which under the guiding light of the Spirit of truth is religiously preserved and faithfully expounded in the Church.(45*) The Roman Pontiff and the bishops, in view of their office and the importance of the matter, by fitting means diligently strive to inquire properly into that revelation and to give apt expression to its contents;(46*) but a new public revelation they do not accept as pertaining to the divine deposit of faith.(47*)
Homeschool
My wife and I are 99% sure we will homeschool our children. The two main reasons are 1) we want to fully provide our children their religious and moral instruction and 2) we don't want our children immersed in the peer culture with its attitudes, language, conversation subject matter, view of sexuality; its overall cynical material worldliness.
When I mention that we plan to homeschool the number one response I get from people , by far, is how will your kids learn socialization...or something of that sort. I really think they mean socializing, not socialization. Look at the definition of socialization.SOCIALIZATION - Merriam - Webster defines socialization as, "the process by which a human being acquires the habits, beliefs, and accumulated knowledge of society through education and training for adult status."
Socialization is a different creature all together. I am not talking about having time to hang out after class and talk about your latest crush or ball game. This is about training my children to function in a given way and instilling habits and beliefs. I can hear you saying, "You can't keep your children in a bubble! They should be able to hear differing views! They should be taught how to function as part of society!" I agree. I can not keep my children in a bubble and I don't want to. I do, however, believe that it is my duty to be the primary educator for my children. They will experience things and have questions about those experiences. My wife and I will filter those experiences through our belief systems and values. We interpret the world based on our "filter". Our job as a father and mother and as teachers is to help them develop a healthy filter with a Catholic perspective. One that will rely on Catholic truth and honesty and integrity to make decisions and judgments. While I do not have any problems with them hearing views and beliefs that are different from mine, I do have a problem with them being told the views that our family holds (e.g. our beliefs about the Catholic Church, objective truth, a Creator, or sexuality) are not "politically correct", especially by teachers.
Below is transcript of Dr. Ray Guarendi's radio show called The Doctor is In. He typically begins his show with a monologue. This is a transcript of him giving details on a study on homeschooling with his usual comments.
I don't know where this number comes from, it says "Homeschooling goes BOOM! In America 74% increase in families teaching their own children since...oh since 1999. "Homeschooling movement is sweeping the nation" this is from World Net Daily; "supposed estimate one and half million children learning at home". That's about if I am recalling correctly, - the children who are in school-school age kids is around fifty five sixty million; so one and a half million is what 2 to 3%. "Dept of Education has reported that homeschooling has risen by 36% in just the last five years. National centre for educational statistics statistician Gail Mulligan told USA Today 'There is no reason to believe it would not keep going up".
Now I am not so sure whether I agree with that, because it can only go as far as the ceiling of stay at home mums. I think the number of stay at home mums, out of mums in total is 20%, 25% somewhere near. "2007 survey asked parents why they chose to homeschool. Here's the most popular reasons:
Concern about the school environment, including reasons such as safety, drugs, negative peer pressure 88%."
I am sure that many of you would speculate well the number one reason would be for moral or religious. The way the questions are phrased, negative peer pressure might come underneath that moral or religious rubric.
"The second most common reason is a desire to provide religious or moral instruction. 83%."
So there, that is for most folks right up there in their motives for homeschooling.
"A dissatisfaction with the academic instruction at other schools 73%" of the parents cited that as a reason.
"Non traditional approach to children's education or unschoolers who consider typical curriculums and standardized testing as counterproductive to quality education 65%.
Other reasons; family time, finances, travel distance 32%.
Child has special needs 21%.
Physical or mental health problem 11%.
Parents who said that they homeschooled to provide religious or moral instruction increased from 2003 to 2007."
What that basically means is that more people are homeschooling because they feel that they can provide the kind of moral religious education, not working so hard against the peer culture and the school culture. Used to be just the peer culture but unfortunately a lot of what is going on in the schools under the auspices of the schools is antithetical to the kind of moral world view that many parents want their children to have.
"Above all other responses, parents cited providing religious and moral instruction as the most important factor in the decision to teach their children at home 36% said that's the most important factor. Second most important, concern about the school environment".
I've got to believe there's overlap there. If you're concerned about the school environment, you're not necessarily just concerned about drugs or violence. Much more commonly, is "Third reason dissatisfaction with academic instruction 17%.
Research has shown the positive affects of homeschooling through the years. Brain Ray president of the National Homeschool Research Institute reveals that homeschooled children fair as well or better than private and public school students in terms of social, emotional and psychological development" - that is true. The next time somebody says to you 'What about their socialization?' you can have twenty different answers to that. But if you want to make it quick you just look and say 'Well, the research says they're better socialized.'
'WHAT?'
'Argue with the research'. And that's true, the research does say that; they say that homeschoolers are more active civically. They tend to have umm more involvement in their communities. They tend to obviously score better academically, but we're not talking about that right now. They tend to have better self images; yeah that's right even the homeschoolers have better self images. How could they do that without all those self image courses? You know they gotta have those self image courses. You homeschooling mums you better incorporate some self image courses in your curriculum. Homeschoolers earn higher marks than peers who attend public schools.
"The home educated in grades K to 12 have scored on average on the 65th to 80th percentile on standardized academic achievement tests in the US and Canada compared to the public school average of 50th percentile."
How could that be? How could these untrained mothers; these non professional educators, actually teach their children, so that they outperform their peers. It's not possible!
Apparently it is. There are three studies, which demonstrate that demographics, income and education level of homeschooling parents are generally irrelevant with regard to quality of education. On average, homeschoolers in low income families with less formal education STILL score higher than state school averages.
Yes there has been a wonderful study done where they compared mums who are certified teachers versus mums who are college graduates versus mums with some college verses mums high school graduates versus mums with not a high school graduate; Do you know what they found? NO DIFFERENCE in the kid's achievement scores. The only place where there seemed to be a little bit of a blip was in mathematics taught by non high school graduate mums. But you could understand that. How could they keep up with that level of mathematics especially at the secondary level? But other than that the component seems to be not the mother's academic level but the mother's motives, the mother's heart, the mother's commitment, the mother's sacrifice. Don't dat just beat ALL?
Relationship -who'da thought it?
"Catholic" Witness
Thank God for the outstanding and courageous leadership of Archbishop Chaput. As Catholics we all need to faithfully witness the truth of the Gospel and never be afraid to do so when challenged. Our world is certainlly in a secular/relativism chaos and the Church needs to stand tall as a pillar of truth, as well as Charity and Social Justice (in that order.) Let us all pray that God will abundantly bless those who fiercely fight for and to protect the great Gift of Life - from conception to natural death.
Catholic Apologetics
The word apologetics is derived from the ancient Greek word apologia. An apologia was the case a lawyer would build on behalf of his client. So apologetics is about building the case for our faith-learning how to explain and defend our faith.
I have created a set of links dedicated to Catholic apologetics. Please check them out. God bless!
The Holy Trinity
The eternal love of the Father for the Son and the eternal Love of the Son for the Father cannot be contained. From the exchange of eternal loves, springs forth the Holy Spirit.
Meat on Fridays
Most Catholics think that Vatican II did away with the requirement of not eating meat on Friday throughout the year. Most think it is now just Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent that we cannot eat meat. However...
This is what the new Code of Canon Law brought out in 1983 says about the matter:Canon 1251 : Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Canon Law still requires that Catholics not eat meat on Fridays!
Of course, most Episcopal Conferences have determined that, instead of abstaining from meat, Catholics may perform an act of penance of their choosing. But, do you ever remember to abstain from a particular food or do some other penance on Fridays? And, at any rate, the main rule is still to abstain from meat on Fridays, the performance of another penance instead is an optional substitute.
I know a while back that the National Conference of Catholic Bishops was debating whether to repeal the determination and require all Catholics to abstain from meat on all Fridays of the year. The Bishops thought that a return to meatless Fridays for all Catholics would be of benefit, which I agree. I wonder what came of that because I haven't heard anything about it since.
Why a new blog?
I had a blog not too long ago. I thought it might be a good way to commentate on current events, politics, faith and what not. I notice in my own blog posts and even more so on other blogs that when people commentate, their commentary tends to be on what they don't like. I decided to abandon that old blog for this one in order to start anew with nothing but positive and upbeat posts. Pray for me. God bless!