danightman

LifeSite.com reports on a minister of the Province of Ontario, lead by nominal catholic (the operative word being "CINO" -- Catholic in Name Only) premiere Dalton McGuinty.  The Ontario MP, Glen Murray, lashed out at the provincial bishops for teaching Catholic moral truths on sexuality. 

Murray himself came out and said about the teaching about homosexuality, "I have to say to the bishops: ‘You’re not allowed to do that anymore.'”  What he uses as an example is the teaching in the Catechism that admonishes active homosexuals, paragraph #2357:

Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered." They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved. [CCC #2357]

Murray, a homosexual, has his point of view on this.  Whether he understands that the teaching of the acts as "intrinsically disordered" is a statement of admonishment and a call to repentance is besides the point.  It's a black or white issue.  Either you accept that the Church has a right to teach what has always been taught to the whole world from the Last Supper, and will continue to teach until Christ's second coming, or you don't.  He doesn't, period.

But the betrayal part comes in because McGuinty, who identifies himself as Catholic, admitted his government is determined to make people accepting of homosexual acts, not merely persons, stating that the process should begin "in the home" and is attempting to make all schools in the province, including Catholic schools, have homosexual clubs as students desire.  None of these clubs will be allowed to "reform sexuality", and thus none of them will allow the truth about sexuality to enter the room.

Thus, a member of the Church is saying that the same Church can be told by the province what to teach and, therefore, what the people will be allowed to believe.  If not, the Church and its schools will be punished by the province and the state that presumes to be make the Holy Church do things their way.

There was a man who wanted our Lord to do things his way, and when He didn't delivered him over to be killed.  He betrayed our Lord with a kiss, described by Fulton J. Sheen as "the kiss that blistered."

On this Holy Thursday evening, while we keep vigil with our Eucharistic Lord in the altar of repose, we remember the kiss that blistered.  Any person calling himself catholic yet betrays the Church gives all the faithful "a kiss that blisters" by their scandal, and our Lord had some very tough words for those that would do so.
And whosoever shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me; it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck, and he were cast into the sea.[Mark 9:41]

During this week, I've seen three events that put into focus the thoughts of Fr. Robert Barron on the movie "The Hunger Games", based on the novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins.  That series, as many of you may recall, takes place in a future America divided into ten districts where the wealth is in the hands of an aristocracy and the vast majority of people live in Third-World conditions.  It is also a world that, having fully repaganized, has revived the tradition of human sacrifice of those from conquered peoples within the empire as a form of social outlet.

During the video below, Fr. Barron points out how the novel is a continuation of the thread in 20th century literature and mythology that touches upon human sacrifice as a social outlet to allow the dynasty to maintain order (think of "the Lottery", which many read or seen on film in high school).  A key point Fr. Barron brings up is a concept by French literary critic René Girard called the scapegoating mechanism. 

As society coalesces, the desires and jealousies of the groups and individuals, which Girard refers to as "memetic desire" can form into a type of disease that threatens to break things apart, a "memetic contagion."  At this point, suggests Girard, the society picks a target individual, blames him for their troubles, and casts out or kills that individual.  This is called the Scapegoating Mechanism.



It reminds me of the present uproar over the case of George Zimmerman, accused of murdering Treyvon Martin in an altercation within Zimmerman's community last month.  I do not wish to wade into Zimmerman's guilt or innocence, in fact the coverage and the things said appear to make that beside the point, sadly.  Given the attempt to find the man's address to bring harm to the man, the calls to prosecute him for anything to simply put him in jail, and even the calls of some to take matters into their own hands to inflict "justice" upon Zimmerman in retaliation for Martin's death, not to mention the distortions incorporated into the media coverage, I wonder if it is possible for Zimmerman to find a impartial panel to try him on the basis of facts.  It seems that, to the Obama administration and the activists involved, Zimmerman is guilty regardless of the facts, which suggests that he is about to become a scapegoat for the ever present racial tensions in the United States. 



There is another movie coming out about the corrupt power structures in the United States, which compares the activities of the power elite and the corporations to the prostitution and drug gangster activities that occur in the ghetto.  Thus the title, "Ghetto Physics."  The core metaphor is the relationship of domination and degradation that occurs between the pimp and the prostitutes (the "ho"s) he controls and enslaves.  The movie and the book it was based on, "Will The Real Pimps and Hos Please Stand Up! — Peeping the Multi-leveled Global Game," the premise of which is that all of us are either pimps (control freaks) or Ho's (the weak who suffer the use of the pimps).  The goal, according to the book and the movie, is that we realize what we are and "wake up" to take charge of our life and "make new dreams".

If you are at all Christian and have some understanding of your faith, this should raise a red flag.  There's a serpent's tail in all this slithering about, and it's in the very notion of how we are to take charge of our lives.  What is suggested by the trailer above is that we are to make a mental shift that allows us to "conceive our own reality" and take power.  In effect, what it hints at is that there is no absolute truth, and that we are to make our myths to achieve our own apotheosis.  There is a scene in the trailer (about 1:25) where the professor chants "who creates our reality?" and the students respond "WE create our reality."

This concept is the core of the pantheistic New Age movement, especially as described in books such as "The Secret."  In reality, the concept is older than civilization, being seen in the Emperor worship in Egypt and continuing to Rome, where by the time St. John the Evangelist is writing the Book of Revelation, the Emperor Domitian is encouraging the building of temples to worship the Emperor cult and even given emperors the title "Dominus and Deus noster." (Latin: "Our lord and god").  Indeed, it seems the relationship discussed here began in the garden with a serpent's lie, "you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil." [Gen 3:5]

The Bible, then, understands the power dynamic that is called here "ghetto physics", but unlike the movie and the book, it shows us the real way out, just as it does from the Scapegoating Mechanism.  Instead of the "Pimp and ho" as the prime example of manipulation and sado-masochism, we have the family based on the sacramental marriage between a man and a woman as the example of love, sacrifice, and self-gift.  Instead of the corporatism and crony-capitalist power plays between government, the Church offers us the example of forgiveness, love, and identification with the victim.  Instead of leadership as being the "pimp" over others, we have the identification of leadership and greatness with service.

But Jesus calling them, saith to them: You know that they who seem to rule over the Gentiles, lord it over them: and their princes have power over them.  But it is not so among you: but whosoever will be greater, shall be your minister.  And whosoever will be first among you, shall be the servant of all.  For the Son of man also is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many. [Mark 10:42-45]

As we continue our journey to Easter through Good Friday and the Passion, let us pause to remember the Kenotic Hymn given to us by St. Paul in his letter to the Philippians, written about a decade and a half from the Passion, death and resurrection of Christ. This is the real way out from under the troubles we find ourselves in, whether we call it the great conspiracy, power plays, memetic desire, or "Ghetto Physics."

For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man.  He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.  For which cause God also hath exalted him, and hath given him a name which is above all names: That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: and that every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.[Phil 2:5-11]

THE DONKEY
 G.K. Chesterton

When fishes flew and forests walked 
And figs grew upon thorn, 
Some moment when the moon was blood 
Then surely I was born; 

With monstrous head and sickening cry 
And ears like errant wings, 
The devil's walking parody 
On all four-footed things. 

The tattered outlaw of the earth, 
Of ancient crooked will; 
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, 
I keep my secret still. 

Fools! For I also had my hour; 
One far fierce hour and sweet: 
There was a shout about my ears, 
And palms before my feet.



And now...some donkeys.

[Hat tip to the Pittsford Perennialist for this]

You mean they might actually want to grow real food instead of accepting what is put on the shelf by mega feedlots, corporate baron farms and mega-food companies?  You mean they actually want to grow real breeds of pigs and farm animals instead of heeding their state and corporate betters, as in Michigan which is working against the threat of oddly haired pigs and Ohio which is trying to ban weird animal husbandry (Ohio Senate Bill 310, BTW.  Write to your State Senator or Representative to oppose it please)? 

That might be the gateway to horrible attitudes like the notion they have a right to their property (EPA will stomp on that mighty quick) or to real terrorist ideas like Citizen Sovereignty.  How dare you think you have rights.

They might even want to grow things like hemp and bad stuff like what is sold by Big pharmeceuticals...OH!

UPDATE:  Bakers Green Acres farm, which is fighting the state of Michigan's declaration that pigs with straight ears and fur are an "invasive species" instead of heirloom breeds and thus can be eradicated, has put out the video below stating their case.  If the rule is enforced, the Bakers are looking at their herds annihilated and the freedom taken for up to four years.

If they can do it in Michigan, any state can declare heirloom breeds of any animal, or any animal for that matter, an invasive species and have the animals shot and the owners imprisoned.

In Ireland, who once provided the world fine priests, the Bishop of Raphoe, The Most Reverend Philip Boyce O.C.D. is being investigated by the Irish government for violations of a hate crime law for giving a homily at the Shrine of Our Lady of Knock in August 2011.  The accuser, chartered engineer and economist John Colgan, ironically of the Center-right Fine Gael party that supposedly identifies with Christian Democracy, is a secular humanist who sees references to the attack of the Church from secularists and identification of the Christian Hope as too much like indictments against him and other secularists.  Thus, the accusation that these lines are an incitement to hatred, itself an all too apparent act of hate.

This may be what is in store for America as well, as the rights of Freedom of Religion, guaranteed under the First Amendment of the Constitution, is increasingly trampled upon and limited to "freedom of worship."  If hate crimes laws are expanded, eventually even the freedom of worship will be limited by a government that will feel itself free to tell the Churches what they can and cannot say, even about the theological virtue of hope.  Here is the homily by the Bishop of Raphoe, which is a classic sermon which should be remembered.

Here below is one of the two parts now being investigated by the Irish Government.  Is Papal teaching now to be considered a "hate crime" as well?

When we enter into any kind of suffering and distress, it is the Lord who allows us to experience our own weakness and inadequacy. Some situations cannot be rectified without special help from on high. The sad effects of accidents on the roads, of dreaded diseases, of social and economic upheavals, of addictions and so on, need more than human resources. They also need the helping hand of God. The prophet warned the people of old: “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many…..but do not look to….the Lord” (cf. Is. 31:1). We look for prosperity, but there is no real and lasting prosperity without God.

Indeed unless we trust in a higher power, in God himself, what hope can we have? St. Paul told his converts at Ephesus that before they came to know Christ, they were “without hope and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). We need the radiance of a hope that looks beyond the horizons of space and time, one as Pope Benedict teaches “that cannot be destroyed even by small-scale failures or by a breakdown in matters of historic importance” (Spe Salvi No. 35). For the distinguishing mark of Christian believers is “the fact that they have a future: it is not that they know the details of what awaits them, but they know in general terms that their life will not end in emptiness….To come to know God – the true God – means to receive hope” (Ibid, No. 2.3). We thank God for the faith, that enables us to trust in Him.

Those who are enemies of the Church will further threaten Her children not to speak, teach, act, or think of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The nations will rage, and the governments will take our freedoms as long as we let them.  May our answer, and I pray for those of our hierarchs, be as one with Peter and John who said:

If it be just in the sight of God, to hear you rather than God, judge ye.  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. [Acts 4:19-20]

If you recall, I posted articles expressing sympathy with some of the points the Occupy Wall Street movement has made up to the time it was, for the most part, crush in a co-ordinated crackdown on it in November of Last year.  That may have been when it was captured by the old-time pro-death left

So this goes out to those that have hijacked the movement, or maybe we all just didn't get it and this is what you and the Soros' that funded you had in mind from the beginning.  If that is so, was this really a people's movement to begin with?

If you're not familiar with the famous line from M. Night Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense" here is the scene.



And we all know about the walking dead (this from the "Dawn of the Dead", filmed at Monroeville Mall a year before I moved to Pittsburgh as a kid).



But have you ever heard of the dead voting?  (All those in Chicago and West Virginia, put down your hands, please.)

In New Hampshire, it's all the rage among Democrat zombies.



Of course, since the election law applies to both parties primaries and the general election, you have to wonder how many zombies voted for next state favorite Mitt Romney?

I think this is the scariest thing involving the faithful departed I've seen...and it's not a movie!

Maybe we need from refresher courses...from Zombie U! (and get an axe!)