Exempla: The Runaway Nun

An Exempla is a medieval parable meant to teach moral lessons.  I'm going to start collecting them here.

“Never be so bold as to tamper with the acts of God. I shall relate to you a beautiful miracle that Our Lord Jesus wrought in this regard at the request of his mother, St. Mary. I relate it so that you will understand how much it grieves Him and how evil He considers the man who would steal of His nuns from a convent”. (1) 

In A Benedictine house of nuns called Fontenblay in England, there was a young noble woman who was very beautiful and good, and renowned for her devotion to Mary. Whenever she passed Our Lady’s statue she would always address it, “Hail, Mary!” and genuflect. 

However, it happened that through the devil, “who is ever accustomed to contrive and fabricate such things,” a noble knight fell in love with her. He had heard about her beauty and pretended to be her relative in order to speak to her. He managed to convince her that they should steal away together one night. On the planned night, as the nun returned from Complines, she slipped out of line to hide inside a narrow postern door instead of going to the dormitory. As soon as she was sure all the sisters were gone, she left her hiding place, went to the high altar, knelt and said “Hail, Mary!” following her custom. 

But when the statue of Mary, which was close to the crucifix, saw her leaving, it called out and said: “Where does thou go, my daughter? Dost thou leave me and my Son for the devil? And dost thou make mockery of the prayer with which thou art accustomed to hail me?” 

Then the image from the crucifix moved, and Our Lord removed one of the nails that had fastened him to the Cross, and raised His hand to throw it, so that the nail pierced the nun from one cheek to another. The nun fell unconscious to the floor. 

The next morning the sisters came to the convent, and found the crucifix on the cross with the right hand raised in the attitude of striking. To this day it remains so as proof of what took place. Then the nuns discovered the sister on the floor, plucked the nail from her cheek, and she regained her senses. The poor sinner wept greatly and repented utterly for her sin, confessing all that had taken place and why she had been so punished by Our Lord. Thenceforth she was a pious and holy sister and ended her days in the convent in God’s service. 

And the knight? After waiting with four of his kinsmen the whole night, he left, humiliated and believing he had been mocked by the sister. The author draws this lesson: “So it was that even though the devil had prepared the hearts of the nun and the knight to be joined as one, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is always the devil’s adversary, nullified and undid everything that the Evil One had wrought. For the nun turned her mind away from the knight because of God’s punishment, and the knight put away the love of the nun from his heart from anger at being humiliated. Further, when he learned what had happened, he considered himself to be a great sinner and repented for all the sins he had committed, left the world to become a monk, and served God well, ending his days piously.” 

A Christian builds a village, not a wall.

Right now, along the border with Mexico, the United States has a row of gun shops.  Right now, along the border with the United States, Mexico has a row of drug smugglers.

Oh, there are gaps- that's where the "undocumented immigrants" come through, but for the most part, we export guns to Mexican drug cartels who in return export drugs to addicts in the United States.

This situation is not viable long term.  It is NOT how good Christian neighbors should act.

I suggest that instead of a wall, we need a village.  A two block wide, 2000 square mile village.  Jointly owned by the United States and Mexico.  With farms, and shops, and schools.  Built green (it's a wonderful place to put buildings with solar panels on the roof).  Mass transit- as long as we're doing solar, how about a maglev on both sides of the Rio Grande?  And Maglev tunnels *under* the river- with autocars so that you can load up your car on one side and take it to the other side.  A village that is purposefully a demilitarized zone, with bi-country law enforcement.

Schools could include civics, language, and economic lessons for adults intending to emigrate, as well as being a safe haven for the children of the refugees intending to cross the border.

Constructing this "Wall Village" will soak up a LOT of the excess labor in both the United States and Mexico, providing massive employment on both sides of the border.  Sorely needed employment- which will raise the price of food, but in the end result, cause the compensation for farm labor to go up, which means new consumers.

And it puts the gun smugglers, the people smugglers, and the drug smugglers out of business.  Hopefully permanently.

The Truth Is Real, Not Rigid - The Catholic Thing

The Truth Is Real, Not Rigid - The Catholic Thing: "One man’s rigidity is another man’s solidity. "



'via Blog this'



This is in short why I get so heated when Pope Francis talks about the "rigid".  To me, reality is extremely important- Truth in Jesus Christ is important.  To throw away Truth in return for mere pastoral concerns to me seems not very loving or pastoral; tolerance of a lie removes morality more surely than anything else.

A liberal AGW Catholic shows the problem with scientism

Is Science ‘True’? | Commonweal Magazine

Confirmation bias is a basic part of being human. You can't avoid it. You can minimize it, but only by eliminating all politics, money, and emotion from a system. And then, your conclusions can no longer be conclusions.

Once you have a conclusion, any conclusion- your mind is fixed to that conclusion, right or wrong, and confirmation bias from it will color anything more you do in that field.

On ursurping the power of God

David Carlin gives us a fine treatise in The Catholic Thing with the central philosophical error of the Enlightenment (and it isn't what I've heard before). He ends with this phrase (click on it to see the full article).

And if that’s the way we intend to tell right from wrong, then nobody can tell right from wrong.

That sums up quite nicely the entire reason for the Protestant Rebellion and the subsequent Dictatorship of Immoral Relativism. The whole intent was to confuse the conscience on right and wrong, and remove the definition of right and wrong from the power of God (Divine inspiration) and put it in the hands of individual men (conscience). It's the Garden of Eden all over again.

Patrick Madrid makes a similar point in a story about an elderly extraordinary minister of the eucharist.

A geeky, pro-life plan to reduce global climate change

They tell us global climate change is caused by atmospheric carbon. Based on plant ability to sequester atmospheric carbon, I suggest the following methodology for sequestering carbon away from the environment for long periods of time.

1. Plant native, drought resistant, edible plants on every available surface with sun. They need to be native and drought resistant because they will only be watered with rain.
2. Have lots of babies. At least 10 children per family, whenever possible.
3. Encourage the mortal sin of gluttony. Ideally everybody should die of an obesity related illness and should weigh in at over 200 lbs at death.
4. Discourage cremation at death, encourage full body ground burial in metal caskets encased in concrete to prevent accumulated carbon from escaping back into the atmosphere.
5. Close sections of graveyards when full, and plant native drought resistant edible plants on top of the graves, to accumulate more carbon for sequestration.

Novena of Divine Mercy, Day 9

Novena: Ninth Day   Meditation: Today bring to Me SOULS WHO HAVE BECOME LUKEWARM, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: “Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.” For them, the last hope of salvation is to flee to My mercy (Diary, 1228). My Prayer Response with St. Faustina: Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls, who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power (Diary, 1229).

*Diary passages with bolded words are Jesus speaking ----------------------------------------------------- My Commentary:  Morally Therapeutic  Deism, it was named in a study of American Teenagers in 2005.  The belief in a creator God, who is remote from his creation, but comforting to know He exists in times of trouble.  The God described by MTDs does not require conversion, he's quite happy to console you while your sin leads you into hell.  They refuse to flee to Christ's mercy, choosing instead to believe that all good people go to heaven and nobody who is nice will be damned.  They are most tragically mistanken.  And far too many Catholics in high locations, follow this myth- this daring hope that Hell is empty.  This is NOT in keeping with the visions of divine mercy- where many are falling into hell.

Novena of Divine Mercy Day 8

Novena: Eighth Day

 

Meditation:

Today bring to Me THE SOULS WHO ARE DETAINED IN PURGATORY, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice (Diary, 1226).
 

My Prayer Response with St. Faustina:

Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the power of Your mercy may be praised (Diary, 1227).

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My commentary- I aim for purgatory, not heaven.  Why?  Because I know once I enter purgatory, I'm headed for heaven.  I NEED the fire.  I need the pain.  I need to make retribution to Christ's justice.  If I don't, I know with my current personality I'm unfit for Heaven.  Heaven won't be heaven for others unless I go through purgatory first.  I need all the help I can get, so thank you Jesus, for the streams of Blood and Water which cool the flames of purgatory.

When scientists become politicians

Science suffers when scientists become politicians.  A few examples:

1. Biologist Paul Ehrlich predicted in the 1970s that: “Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make,” and that “The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.”
2. In January 1970, Life reported, “Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….”
3. In January 2006 Al Gore predicted that we had ten years left before the planet turned into a “total frying pan.” We made it.
4. In 2008, a segment aired on ABC News predicted that NYC would be under water by June 2015.
5. In 1970, ecologist Kenneth E.F. Watt predicted that “If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but 11 degrees colder by the year 2000, This is about twice what it would take to put us in an ice age.”
6. In 2008, Al Gore predicted that there is a 75% chance that the entire north polar ice cap would be completely melted within 5-7 years. He at least hedged that prediction by giving himself “75%” certainty.
7. On May 13th 2014 France’s foreign minister said that we only have 500 days to stop “climate chaos.” The recent Paris climate summit met 565 days after his remark.
8. In 2009, Nasa scientist and leading climate expert James Wassen warned that Obama only had four years left to save the earth.
9. On the first Earth Day its sponsor warned that “in 25 years, somewhere between 75 and 80 percent of all the species of living animals will be extinct.”
10. And another Earth Day prediction from Kenneth Watt: “At the present rate of nitrogen buildup, it’s only a matter of time before light will be filtered out of the atmosphere and none of our land will be usable.”

Novena Of Divine Mercy, 7th Day, with additional commentary

Novena: Seventh Day

Meditation:
Today bring to Me THE SOULS WHO ESPECIALLY VENERATE AND GLORIFY MY MERCY, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls sorrowed most over My Passion and entered most deeply into My spirit. They are living images of My Compassionate Heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death (Diary, 1224).

My Prayer Response with St. Faustina:
Most Merciful Jesus, whose Heart is Love Itself, receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who particularly extol and venerate the greatness of Your mercy. These souls are mighty with the very power of God Himself. In the midst of all afflictions and adversities they go forward, confident of Your mercy. These souls are united to Jesus and carry all mankind on their shoulders. These souls will not be judged severely, but Your mercy will embrace them as they depart from this life (Diary, 1225).

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My Commentary:
Does doing this novena, and spreading the message of Divine Mercy, help with me being rigid? I hope so.
 I do not think it is merciful to lie to people, is my problem. But reminding people that while their sin is a sin, it is in most cases not the unforgivable sin, can help people avoid the real unforgivable sin- failing to trust in Jesus Christ and his mercy.

Novena of Divine Mercy Day 6

Novena: Sixth Day   Meditation: Today bring to Me THE MEEK AND HUMBLE SOULS AND THE SOULS OF LITTLE CHILDREN, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls most closely resemble My Heart. They strengthened Me during My bitter agony. I saw them as earthly Angels, who will keep vigil at My altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. Only the humble soul is capable of receiving My grace. I favor humble souls with My confidence (Diary, 1220).   My Prayer Response with St. Faustina: Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said, “Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.” Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart all meek and humble souls and the souls of little children. These souls send all heaven into ecstasy and they are the heavenly Father’s favorites. They are a sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God; God Himself takes delight in their fragrance. These souls have a permanent abode in Your Most Compassionate Heart, O Jesus, and they unceasingly sing out a hymn of love and mercy (Diary, 1221).

*Diary passages with bolded words are Jesus speaking --------------------- My commentary- all of my life I've equated meekness with weakness.  Childishness with being selfish.  But my wife's daycare has taught me that children aren't naturally selfish, they are in fact naturally generous.  They are taught to be selfish by our consumer culture quite early- advertising on children's television is quite strong, and their attention spans are not long enough yet to resist.   I find most adults who praise humility, are not very humble themselves.  They look down on those of us who, to them, are not humble- and in so doing, they give in to their own sin of pride in their own humility.  Better that they would be more generous with the poor souls stuck attached to the honors of this world- honors that are sure to be stripped away in the next world.

Novena of Divine Mercy Day 5

with my commentary below

Novena: Fifth Day

 

Meditation:

Today bring to Me THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO HAVE SEPARATED THEMSELVES FROM MY CHURCH, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. During My bitter Passion they tore at My Body and Heart, that is, My Church. As they return to unity with the Church, My wounds heal and in this way they alleviate My Passion (Diary, 1218).
 

My Prayer Response with St. Faustina:

Most Merciful Jesus, Goodness Itself, You do not refuse light to those who seek it of You. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Church. Draw them by Your light into the unity of the Church, and do not let them escape from the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart; but bring it about that they, too, come to glorify the generosity of Your mercy (Diary, 1219).

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I often notice that today, those who choose this path do so because they don't understand what the Church is.  And by extension, they don't understand who Jesus Christ is.  They leave because they think their favorite sin, the one they most enjoy doing, is unforgiveable.  But in all cases, the real unforgiveable sin isn't the reason why they left, it is the *leaving* itself, for it cuts them off from Christ's mercy.  Your favorite sin is but a single grain of salt dissolved into the ocean of mercy.  The Church won't lie to you about that sin- they will tell you the truth about it- but in the end result, it is rather inconsequential in eternity, unless you cling to it and refuse to "Let Thy Will Be Done On Earth as it is In Heaven".

An Excellent Treatise on Usury

From who other than GK Chesterton, the Utopia of the Usuriors.

Novena of Divine Mercy Day 4

Novena: Fourth Day
 Meditation:
Today bring to Me THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD AND THOSE WHO DO NOT YET KNOW ME. I was thinking also of them during My bitter Passion, and their future zeal comforted My Heart. Immerse them in the ocean of My mercy (Diary, 1216).
 My Prayer Response with St. Faustina:
Most compassionate Jesus, You are the Light of the whole world. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who do not believe in God and of those who as yet do not know You. Let the rays of Your grace enlighten them that they, too, together with us, may extol Your wonderful mercy; and do not let them escape from the abode which is Your Most Compassionate Heart (Diary, 1217).
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Yesterday I let off a bit of steam about "rigid" Devout and Faithful souls. THIS group is the motivation for yesterday's souls. We've found Jesus, we've found The Way of Life, and we see clearly The Way of Death and the damage it causes. I know, since Vatican II, evangelization and proselytizing being practically forbidden, there are few creative outlets for reaching out to those who do not believe in God and those who do not yet know Jesus; the assumption that came out of the testimony of the missionaries is that there is no culture on Earth that has not been touched by the power of forgiveness and Jesus Christ. But the sad part is, those who have no true knowledge of God or Jesus do still exist, and worse yet, due to distorted teachings at the peripheries, many of them have very bad ideas of what God and Jesus represent. Thus there is still evangelization work to do- and once evangelized, nobody has zeal like a convert.

Novena of Divine Mercy Day 3

Sorry this is late, due to Easter.
 Was posted to facebook on time.
 Novena of Divine Mercy, with my commentary
 Novena: Third Day
Meditation:
Today bring to Me ALL DEVOUT AND FAITHFUL SOULS, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. These souls brought Me consolation on the Way of the Cross. They were that drop of consolation in the midst of an ocean of bitterness (Diary, 1214).
 My Prayer Response with St. Faustina:
Most Merciful Jesus, from the treasury of Your mercy, You impart Your graces in great abundance to each and all. Receive us into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart and never let us escape from It. We beg this grace of You by that most wondrous love for the heavenly Father with which Your Heart burns so fiercely (Diary, 1215).
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My personal reflection: this is the group that today's moral relativists jeer at, hate, and are intensely intolerant of. These are the people who, though not perfect themselves, still believe in absolute objective morality, while using it to point to the need for forgiveness and mercy. In the recently concluded Year of Mercy, this group got only insults from Pope Francis himself, calling them rigid, Pharisee, followers of rigorism. And yet it was this group, above all others, who consoled our Blessed Lord on the cross.

Novena of Divine Mercy Day 2

Novena: Second Day
 Meditation:
Today bring to Me THE SOULS OF PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS, and immerse them in My unfathomable mercy. It was they who gave Me strength to endure My bitter Passion. Through them, as through channels, My mercy flows out upon mankind (Diary, 1212).
 My Prayer Response with St. Faustina:
Most Merciful Jesus, from whom comes all that is good, increase Your grace in men and women consecrated to Your service, that they may perform worthy works of mercy; and that all who see them may glorify the Father of Mercy who is in heaven (Diary, 1213).
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My commentary: Vocations are down in the United States. It is a hard life to live. It can only be done with the support of parents and a large family. Pray for larger families, and pray for vocations.

Novena of Divine Mercy, Day 1

The Novena of Divine Mercy, with suggested prayer and my commentary:
Novena: First Day
Meditation:
 Today bring to Me ALL MANKIND, ESPECIALLY ALL SINNERS, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me (Diary, 1210).
 My Prayer Response with St. Faustina: Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit (Diary, 1211).
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My commentary- I trust in Jesus, I don't trust in man very well. Our response to the crucifixion can't be limited to trust- we must also convert away from sin and be saved. Divine Mercy exists- there is only one unforgivable sin and whatever you think is your greatest sin most likely isn't it- but without the response to the grace of forgiveness of making a firm purpose to amend our lives, then forgiveness can and does leave us worse off than when we started. Let us not lose the grace given, let us use this forgiveness to truly be saved.

For my son

Where to Bingewatch B5 for free, all five seasons

More disappointment from this Pope

Several Months ago, four cardinals asked five rather pointed questions. http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/full-text-and-explanatory-notes-of-cardinals-questions-on-amoris-laetitia And for months, Pope Francis refused to answer. Yesterday this happened: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-francis-thanks-maltese-bishops-for-amoris-laetitia-guidelines And with this act, the dubia has been answered. We now now the answers to these questions, thanks to Pope Francis yesterday approving of the Maltese plan in this matter: The answers are Yes, No, No, No, No, precisely the opposite of the hoped for orthodox answers of No, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes. Objective truth surrounding the Sacrament of Marriage is now gone. The church has reversed the universal teaching on the indissolubility of marriage.

Work Related

It's rare, but every once in a while I run across a cool site for Software Engineering.  97 things every programmer should know  is a resource to turn any code monkey into a professional

The Manhood of Jesus Christ.

My wife and I recently went to a couple's retreat to try to improve our marriage.  While there, I learned a very interesting definition of what a man needs to be a man:

1. a Challenge
2. An Adventure
3. A woman to die for.

I was reading this upcoming Sunday's readings, and it occurred to me that the Gospel reading, the encounter with the Samaritan Woman at the Well, is Jesus Christ's moment of becoming a man.

Bear with me.  Let's go through each of the above criteria:

1. A Challenge.  Jesus Christ was both man and God.  Which means the God side was continually, in his brain, having a dialog with the man side.  What a challenge for a first century Jew, raised in a tribal society- to enter Samaritan Territory, and sit at this well.
2. An Adventure.  Once he sat at the well, after the adventure of getting there at all (travel in those days for a poor man like Christ was on foot- slowly) the thirst kicked in.  All human adventure is linked to our needs; and the fulfillment of spiritual and physical need.  No less so did Christ experience this, which is when we come to number 3.
3. A Woman to Die For.  At first, this was just the fulfillment of his adventure- merely asking for water.  But it quickly, thanks to God knowledge seeping into Christ's finite human brain, became much, much more.   For this was no ordinary Samaritan woman.  She was adulterous (after all, we heard before this week how divorce is a form of adultery) having had five husbands and currently living with a boyfriend who is not her husband.  Given the times, much of this sin was likely due to mere attempts to survive after divorce; a woman did not live long on her own in such patriarchal societies.  But meeting this sinful woman, I believe, was the beginning- the beginning of what he knew he needed to do to redeem us all.  For we are all the woman at the well.

Feed the Hungry, Clothe the naked, Shelter the Homeless, Document the Undocumented, Assimilate the Unassimilated

The problem of refugees has come to the forefront due to Donald Trump.  But the one place I've had a problem with Church teaching, is in the unreasoning allowance for human migration.

Thinking about where I differ with Donald Trump, I think my problem with this teaching is a severe cultural problem that has happened with white American Catholics in my generation.  We've lost our roots, we were denied teaching about our culture in the 1970s and 1980s, and we're only now getting it back.

When you have no culture yourself- multiculturalism is a threat.  Everybody else is allowed culture, but white people are not.  Why?  Because our culture is evil.  Our culture is supposedly that which conquored the world- but now must be denied.

But what if we start taking a different approach.  What if, in forming "Sanctuary Chuch" policies, we not only feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, protect the criminal (for a time, and to reconcile the criminal to the crown), but to go a step further.  Let us document the undocumented and thus create the paper trail necessary to prove that a  person really intends to immigrate and abandon old allegiances to pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which she stands, One Nation Under God, INDIVISIBLE, with Liberty and JUSTICE for all.

Which leads to our next duty as a Church.  We must assmilate the unassimilated.  If we want a Christian nation, and we most certainly should, that means converting the unconverted.  It means teaching English to those who are newly arrived.  It means introducing them to our food, it means inviting them into our homes, it means teaching them the laws of the land so that they may become productive members of our culture.

Which circles back around- that we must first have a culture to teach.    It is time to stop being afraid of our own culture, it is time to offer the melting pot of culture where *all* cultures are blended together into one, rather than the salad bowl of multiculturalism where the tomatoes fight for dominance against the lettuce.

For Catholics, that means we need to start with faith and reason.  With reason and history.

Pope Francis, a love/hate relationship

As readers of this blog know, since the first Synod on the Family, I've had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Pope Francis.  I recently came across an interesting "Rigid" side blog post  listing all the "Rigid Catholic" concerns about this Pope and the way Jesuits in general operate within the Church.  It is most excellent, and contains things that you won't see in main stream media or even sometimes in Catholic media about the Pope:

• Mercy for fornicators
• Mercy for pederasts (molesters of pubescent children)
• Mercy for Jesuit schools that in search of money are abandoning Catholicism in favor of Islamic or Humanist studies
• The side insults against rigid Catholics
• Twisting history to exemplify heretics at the cost of real saints
• Dialogue with Masons
• Ignoring the massive martyrdom caused by Islam, while welcoming massive numbers of Moslem immigrants to Europe who have an antithetical view of western women resulting in rape and murder
• The 500th Anniversary of Fatima, and the fear surrounding this time.

My one saving thought, the thing that keeps me from total despair, comes from the Mercy of St. John Paul The Great:  Not all who are in the Church Militant or the Church Suffering are Catholic.  But all who are in the Church Militant and the Church Suffering, will be Catholic in the Church Triumphant.

Privilege = Opportunity

Any time you see a privilege that someone else has that you want- that is an opportunity to create a business to give that privilege to others.

Every "White Male Privilege" in the book  Four Days to Change, is in fact something that society once found necessary for survival.  It's something that white male culture *had* to have, and so built business structures to provide.

There is no reason why those structures cannot be built to provide exactly the same privileges to others.

All it takes is localism- taking an interest in your neighborhood, and building, rather than dividing.

Birth Control doesn't work

The problem is, almost every form of birth control, including sterilization, has flaws.  Condoms cause more sex to occur, overcoming the contraception.  Same is true of any other form of birth control.

The ancient rite of Asylum, and modern immigration problem in the United States

There has been talk of sanctuary churches as of late, and I got to thinking how these could be a positive rather than further division in our nation.

From Wikipedia, we have this ancient description of Sanctuary in English Common law:

Church sanctuaries were regulated by common law. An asylum seeker had to confess his sins, surrender his weapons, and permit supervision by church or abbey organization with jurisdiction. They then had forty days to decide whether to surrender to secular authorities and stand trial for their alleged crimes, or to confess their guilt, abjure the realm, and go into exile by the shortest route and never return without the king's permission. Those who did return faced execution under the law and/or excommunication from the Church.
If the suspect chose to confess their guilt and abjure, they did so in a public ceremony, usually at the church gates. They would surrender their possessions to the church, and any landed property to the crown. The coroner, a medieval official, would then choose a port city from which the fugitive should leave England (though the fugitive sometimes had this privilege). The fugitive would set out barefooted and bareheaded, carrying a wooden cross-staff as a symbol of protection under the church. Theoretically they would stay to the main highway, reach the port and take the first ship out of England. In practice, however, the fugitive could get a safe distance away, abandon the cross-staff and take off and start a new life. However, one can safely assume the friends and relatives of the victim knew of this ploy and would do everything in their power to make sure this did not happen; or indeed that the fugitive never reached their intended port of call, becoming a victim of vigilante justice under the pretense of a fugitive who wandered too far off the main highway while trying to "escape."
Knowing the grim options, some fugitives rejected both choices and opted for an escape from the asylum before the forty days were up. Others simply made no choice and did nothing. Since it was illegal for the victim's friends to break into an asylum, the church would deprive the fugitive of food and water until a decision was made.

 This, to me seems close to workable as a way for Churches, especially Catholic Churches, to fulfill their sacred duty of mercy to the immigrant, while staying on the right side of the law.

I thus propose that the Church make the following deal with the Department of Homeland Security:
1.  If any undocumented person comes into a Catholic Church, places his hand on the Altar, and requests Asylum, that person shall be granted the right to ask a member of that Parish for a place to stay for 180 days maximum.
2.  That person is safe from deportation for 180 days.
3.  The person will be reported to DHS, and a process will be started to vet the individual.  This process is to take no more than 180 days.
4.  The person themselves will devote themselves to prayer, confession, and discussion with the parish priest.  The purpose of these discussions is to decide between one of the following three options:
            a.    Documentation-  If no other impediment exists, becoming a permanent resident with the intention of naturalized citizenship.
            b.    Leave Asylum and turn oneself into authorities for the normal justice process.
            c.    Confess guilt, Receive absolution for eternal sins, and the church will help the person to sell all his worldly posessions and self-deport with the help of the international worldwide church.

Of course, in this 180 day process, any other concerns of family and friends must be taken into consideration.

Of course, this presupposes a modernization of the entire immigration process, to the point where such a decision can be made in 180 days.  The United States does NOT have a good track record on this.

Interesting Mathematics

Too bad it's by a climate change denier, because the mathematical proof of just how much effect man really has on global warming is fascinating.

Oregon Liberalism is more Conservative than Vatican Liberalism

I finally figured out why I have a visceral reaction to the German/Maltese/Argentinian formulation of Amoris Laetitia Chapter 8, and it has nothing to do with the Sacraments.

It has to do with the Culture of Rape, and precisely, the role Rape plays in some civil marriages.

"Continence is impossible" says Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio in his book on Amoris Laetitia.

Those of us in Oregon long ago made Marital Rape illegal.  And if you have his hypothetical example, a woman who desires to be chaste and a man who refuses to be chaste, that is the classical case of marital rape.

The church should not be condoning this sin.  Ever.

Not all can reach the ideal, but that does not mean we should stop teaching the ideal.

An excellent article on the central problem of Amoris Laetitia's formulation on Conscience

This Article in the Catholic Herald today asks an interesting question, one I have yet to see any Jesuit (after all, the Pope is taking this theology from Jesuit theology) explain in any reasonable fashion.

If discernment and uninformed personal conscience can be applied, as Chapter 8 implies, to divorced and remarried persons, can it also be applied to fornicators?  To those civilly married to a person of the same sex? Can it be applied to abortion?  How about Euthanasia?

And moving beyond these, can we say, discern a right to pedophilia, to sex trafficking?  To usury?  To abusing the poor?

If  you think that this is a slippery slope argument, that's because it is.  But moral relativism often opens us up to slippery slope arguments- and in the long run, slippery slope history.

Why Separation of Church and State is anti-Catholic

Because it's part of freemasonry- and is only in our constitution because the majority of our leaders at the time the First Amendment was passed, were freemasons.

Four Days to Change, a running blog on Diversity

I've started reading Michael Welp Ph.D.'s semi-fictionalized novel, Four Days to Change, currently free in Kindle Format.  It's about his experiences running "Diversity Training" seminars for white, male, heterosexual executives; and it's told as a tale of four such executives meeting at a fishing resort to discuss diversity.

As many of you are probably well aware- I'm an old school ethical hacker, and from that standpoint I largely see racism, diversity, and identity politics as irrelevant, irrational criteria.  It is said early on in the book that where a meritocracy exists, can be the worst for diversity, because everybody is required to assimilate into the majority culture.  But I see meritocracy as the only chance somebody like me has- I may not be black, but I spent my entire grade school and high school years shunned for my autistic behavior.  Kill the meritocracy, you kill me.

The majority culture is the majority culture ONLY because it has produced material benefits; 120 years ago assimilation was considered such a good thing that Fr. Michael J McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus to help widows and orphans, but also to help immigrants assimilate.  And the only way the majority culture has been able to provide those benefits is when meritocracy reigns supreme.

But the problem with meritocracy is this- because humans, particularly neurotypicals, are Neurotypical, they are NOT deep or narrow thinkers.  They can't imagine a man like Neil deGrasse Tyson being a giant in Physics rather than a giant in the NBA (note, to somebody like me, at 5'6", he's definitely a giant, both intellectually and physically).  Merely because he's black.  This is why I say that racism is irrelevant, irrational criteria, because it leads you to make assumptions that are false.

The book, being on Male Privilege, listed 14 privileges I supposedly have as a white male, NONE of which I actually identify with:

1. Listing my full name in the phone book or on the web and not receive harassing or obscene phone calls or e-mails:  The author needs to look at my spam box, where I receive between 25-75 such communications a day on average.
2. I'm heterosexual, so supposedly my wife has to worry about birth control:  We've been trying to have a second child for 13 years and are borderline infertile due to other people abusing birth control.  I hate the entire subject of birth control and wish it would disappear from our culture.
3. I am judged less for the attractiveness of my appearance:  Nope, I've lost jobs over it repeatedly
4. I can walk the streets without being harassed for my gender:  Not since 1995 or so.  Especially NOT as an obese man wearing dark glasses- "Creepy" is the normal term.
5. I am not expected to be overly attentive or wait on people:  or at least, not expected as long as I'm fine being ignored in any social situation.  If I want to be social, this is my in, to be attentive and wait on people.
6. I can expect mechanics, hardware store owners, and electronics shop owners not to be condescending to me:  Ridiculous, they up-sell to everybody and will lie to you to get more money.  Especially never trust a man in a uniform or a suit, they're ALWAYS lying unless they are law enforcement and even then they're sometimes lying.
7. I am rarely if ever judged on the cleanliness or neatness of my house:  Just ask my wife about my out of control hoarding behavior.  I feel extremely judged on this, and have resistance to letting a friend help with house repairs who actually needs the work because of it.
8. I don't worry about the threat of rape or sexual violence due to my gender:  Not since an incident in high school that I won't repeat here.  I've been constantly on my guard for the last 30 years because of it.
9. I can make mistakes and fail miserably without it being attributed to my gender:  Not by any female boss I've ever had.
10. I am generally part of the gender majority:  Over my extremely varied career, even in the tech industry where men outnumber women 5:1, I have to say I'm batting about 50/50 on that, and in one case, I couldn't even be part of the orientation majority.
11. I can easily find mentors of my gender and race:  I've never been able to find mentors at all, and the one time a Fortune 500 company gave me access to that it was a complete disaster.
12. My ability to function effectively during a crisis is not questioned because of my gender (See #9)
13. I do not experience being patronized because of my gender (See #9, I actually had the female lesbian head of a company, who KNEW I was a father, tell me that she felt no loyalty to me as an employee.  Needless to say I burnt that bridge as soon as I could, and haven't even talked with that person since).
14. I enjoy company-sponsored events in the outdoors- hunting, golf, fishing, etc that are stereotypical male activities:  Uh, no.  Rarely the occasional BBQ, but I end up the cook, not attending as a guest, see #5.

Thus to me "White Male Privilege" is an insult to me.  But now that I look at it, I'm the cause of my inability to access the good ole boy's club.  I don't act like them, and I never have- because I judge people on what they DO, not what they LOOK LIKE.  The only thing Martin Luther King ever said that I agree with is that we need to judge people on the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

This will be updated as I go, I'm only 51% of the way through the book.

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Well, I finished the book.  More standard diversity insults- White Men are clueless, women and LGBT are the only ones who ever get raped or need to worry about rape, white men are the only ones who ever need to assimilate or conform to anybody else, etc. Nothing earth shattering, nothing to shake my belief that those who play the identity politics game are shallow, neurotypical individuals who judge books by their covers.

Heard on the Radio this morning

Apparently Caffeine-infused beer and Marijuana-infused Coffee are real products.  I think somebody has no idea what these drugs are used for.

I have my computer back, and a blog post you should not let children read

Yes, I have my own computer back.  But fair warning- if you don't like strong language, this blog post is not for you.

It's about a new religion that arrived in the 1940s, right after WWII.  And it's a fucking stupid religion.

It's been called the sexual revolution, but what it really is, is worshiping the act of fucking stupid.  No puns, no cussing here- I'm using the words very literally.  EVERYTHING- from birth control to abortion- from STDs to Obamacare to AIDS- is all in service of the Holy Orgasm.  And not just any Holy Orgasm- but the extramarital holy orgasm- fucking stupid.  Fucking under conditions that you have to have mental problems to do.

And now with same-sex marriage; we have the procreative aspect of fucking stupid.  As in fucking when there is zero possibility of procreation.  Stupidity in the extreme.

There was a reason morality evolved.  There is a reason why *every* religion over a thousand years old condemns fornication and homosexuality.

Because those acts are fucking stupid.
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On the advice of a friend over the weekend, in all future posts, I will refer to this as the FSR:MTD - the Moral Therapeutic Denomination of the Fucking Stupid Religion.

Penny Hoarder's "When to buy" list

Are you being a good steward with the funds you have been given?  I've long subscribed to the Penny Hoarder newsletter, and today they had a really neat article on when to buy certain durable goods.