A leaked document.

I suppose it had to happen in the internet age:  A rebuttal to Amoris Laetitia has been leaked, a document from academic theologians to Cardinals.  I'm sure such letters have been written before, but I've never heard of one leaked publicly.  I notice none of the complaints are about what Pope Francis actually wrote, but rather, about how what he wrote might be interpreted, and how further instruction is necessary in 19 separate areas where there may be confusion among the faithful.

I think this may be a place where a Jesuit would use the Charitable Interpretation to lie and cover up the problem, where a more useful approach would be a full discussion of the issues raised.

So pick someone you'd rather see

When faced with the Ass and the Manchurian Ass, I cannot vote Democrat or Republican this year (again).  But I'm now switching my minor party affiliation as well:

Police accidentally shot man in North Miami, union says - CNN.com

Police accidentally shot man in North Miami, union says - CNN.com: "The police shooting of an African-American caregiver, who was lying in the street trying to help an autism patient, was accidental, according to the local police union representing the North Miami officer.

The officer had intended to shoot the patient, whom he thought posed a danger, but accidentally shot the caregiver instead, said John Rivera, the President of the Dade County Police Benevolent Association."



Another case of police bigotry against autism.  The poor man had a toy truck, not a gun.  And the police were ready to kill him for it.

Kinsey told WSVN that his patient was holding a toy truck, not a firearm. He said he tried to explain the situation to officers.
Cell phone footage showed Kinsey lying in the street with his hands in the air.
"All he has is a toy truck," he shouted. "I am a behavior therapist at a group home."

When are we going to start training police to deal more appropriately with the mentally ill?

A beautiful but geeky analogy

Miracles are just God patching the Universal Source Code.

The difference between the Catholic God and the Islamic Allah is that God prefers Waterfall and Allah prefers Agile CI.

The best thing I've seen yet, the pro-life case against Donald Trump

Original, click here

ONE WINTER a Farmer found a Snake stiff and frozen with cold.

The snake said to the Farmer:
"If you pick me up and hold me to your stomach, your body will make me warm."
The Farmer said:
"If I do that you will bite me."
The Snake answered:
"Why would I do that if you save me?"
The Farmer had compassion on the Snake, and taking it up, placed it in his bosom.
The Snake was quickly revived by the warmth, and resuming its natural instincts, bit its benefactor, inflicting on him a mortal wound.
"Oh," cried the Farmer, "Why did you bite me after I saved you?"
"You knew I was a snake when you picked me up," answered the Snake.

------------------------------------------------

My reasons for distrusting Donald Trump:

1.  His voter registration record.

2.  His business ethics record.

3.  His wife and chief speechwriter are Democrats.

------------------------------------------------

The coup was successful.  We have two democrats running.

On Nazis and Inquisitions

Hate to put them together, but they do have one wonderful thing in common when defending the truth of history.

Both German Nazis and Catholic Inquisitors were excellent record keepers.  Most genocide numbers are estimates, because most genocidal maniacs do not care to keep such excellent records.

I wonder if one day the files of Planned Parenthood will serve a similar historical value, to get an accurate count of the dead.

In some cases, the number is damning.  In other cases, such as the Spanish Inquisition's rather progressive and liberal 98% acquittal rate, the numbers are liberating.  But in both cases, accuracy leads to a view of history not normally available even a few decades later.

Redefining Deviance: The Gay Assault on Franciscan University - Crisis Magazine

Redefining Deviance: The Gay Assault on Franciscan University - Crisis Magazine:



'via Blog this'



This article is old.  Really old.  4 years ago old.



But it makes an excellent point about the difference between diversity, which Catholicism supports, and deviancy- which Catholicism can NEVER support.



To me, the line between diversity and deviancy is the line between sin and virtue, between abuse and use.  Deviant behaviors are inherently abusive- the actor cares more for the behavior as an end unto itself, than the good of the people or things around him.  Diverse behaviors, while they can and often are upsetting in the short term, are ordered towards the common good; towards the good of self and others, and are thus use, rather than abuse.

Anonymous reality check, found on the internet

These police deaths, as horrifying as they are to see, are well within the statistical normal. 2 Ambushes don't make a major trend and ambushing cops is not entirely new.

Being a police is a mildy dangerous job. It does not rank in the top 10 most dangerous jobs in America because MOST criminals don't actually shoot back at all. Only 42 officers died last year being shot.

I suspect suicide actually killed more than criminals. This is because as the Dallas Chief suggesting, we are 'Asking our cops to do too much'.

We are asking them to go out into the public under the false pretense than their job is WAY more dangerous and construction work, when it's just not. It's not more dangerous than being a Cabi or deliver truck driver. Being on the road all the time is more dangerous than being a police officer.

That's not by accident, police do have a lot of protection and ppl are scared of them, but police death stats go back a long time and I suspect they are accurate enough. We have stats on all professions, especially death stats because you know people tend to notice when someone dies and why they died. With just that data we can prove beyond any reasonable doubt that being a police officer is not in the top 10 most dangerous professions. I don't know where it ranks.

140 dead out of 1.1 million makes me suspect it ranks quite low in lethal professions. Police also get a ton more benefits than other professions. They have special funds, added support from the public if they die in the line of duty, they get lots of free stuff.

Why are police getting all these perks and acting like their profession is so dangerous when in reality they are getting paid quite well for a less dangerous position and perks that other comparable non education required careers don't tend to offer. On top of that they are given special privileges by the law to protect them from investigation as well as Police Unions. They have proportionally way more charities also.

We are treating police more than nice enough. It's they who are not treating the people, their customers, well. Police training sucks, the Police Union needs to shut it's mouth and listen to the public. 1.1 million workers don't get to tell 332 million citizens how things should be. Police are our public employees. They are going to do the job within the bounds of what citizens say or citizens will get mad and eventually over decades of built up anger or just some bad mental health luck, you have events like this.

When police deaths double from 140 to 280 we can call it a major uptick, but even then. We are talking about 240 people out of 1.1 million. It's not worth national attention and it doesn't represent any real danger or crisis.

The real crisis is the way Americans mindlessly react to things on the media, without double checking, without thinking first, withing considering the repercussions. We are not going to hold the position of the worlds most powerful nation for much longer like this. When words come out of your mouth and you state them as fact, you outta know if they are true. It's not asking too much.

How Persuaders See the World | Scott Adams' Blog

How Persuaders See the World | Scott Adams' Blog:



'via Blog this'



Scott Adams has been doing a series on the use of hypnotism for presidential campaigns.



He claims the world is separated into rational thinkers, word thinkers, and persuaders.  I call these by different names:



Saints

Fools

Sinners.



Or maybe in a more capitalistic society:

Creators

Targets

Criminals.



I also disagree with his percentages.  I'd call it 10%, 85%,  5%.



Persuaders exist.  They are always bad.  And that includes our top two current ones.

A speech I'm working on for Columbus Day Weekend

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Reverend Father Don,

 Archbishop Sample told us last spring here at St. Clare's at Confirmation, that it will be much harder for our young Catholics to stay Catholic, than it was for the generation who memorized the Baltimore Catechism.

Your Knights of Columbus council knows this well; we have many men who have raised our families, only to find that some children are no longer Catholic.  We are offering the Return Video Class to older members of our parish as a way to learn how to talk to family members who have left the faith; but we must do more.

As Knights, we are Christian Soldiers, moving Onward and Upward Together, toward our God.  (hold up rosary) My sword is prayer, the Rosary of Mary, the Rosary of Charity.  Through my prayer, I become more aware of the needs around me, I become more generous in charity.  (Guesture to the left, at the Crucifix) My shield is the Cross of Christ, for which I am pledged to be a new Simon of Cyrene.  In Unity we Knights help each other carry our Cross.  (guesture at the Altar) On this table, less than 15 minutes ago, we celebrated the third sign of Formation for the Knights, the Holy Eucharist, through which all men and women become brothers and sisters in Christ and exemplify the virtue of Fraternity.

It is well known that when a man acts as a fully involved and informed Catholic father around the children that he encounters, the children are more likely to stay Catholic.  When Families volunteer together, they teach children to be more charitable. Whether your vocation is single, married, or the Holy Orders, having some formation and companionship as a Father will help the children around you.  A fully informed Catholic Father is one who uses Charity, Unity, and Fraternity to help the people he loves get to Heaven, for Heaven would not be Heaven for him without those people there!

Charity, Unity, Fraternity, these are the virtues of a fully formed Knight of Columbus.  Come join us on Sunday at noon for a family lunch, with sandwiches and chips and soda.  We will have the Lego Church Building project out for the kids, at one end of the room will be showing McGivney the Musical, a play about the last time our country was so divided against Catholicism, and we will have men there to talk to you about joining the Knights of Columbus for the children in your life. Membership in Council 15485 now counts for St. Clare School Volunteer hours. 
Thank you.

-----------------------------

Suggestions?  Use the comment box below.  I will keep editing this for at least the next two months before I start practicing it.

Proof that homosexuals are capable of understanding natural law

Proof at Crisis Magazine that at least one formerly homosexual man converted to Catholicism, and to heteronormativity, due to natural law arguments. That's been the strange thing about this debate for me all along, the insinuation that homosexuality is such a mental illness that it actively blocks the ability to understand natural law reasoning. It is a mental illness, but it isn't quite that much of a pervasive developmental disorder.

Pope Francis wants the church to apologize to gay people. Here’s what that could look like. - Vox

Pope Francis wants the church to apologize to gay people. Here’s what that could look like. - Vox: "They've been the subject of degrading gossip in church, and when they've tried to receive spiritual guidance, they've been treated as if lust is their biggest and even only spiritual concern. They've been given guidance that focused solely on avoiding sin, never on expressing love: a catechism of "no.""



Eve Tushnet's entire focus is on the LGBT community, so it's understandible that she thinks they are unique in this.  I'd point out though that this is exactly the same treatment that heterosexuals got from 1950-1992, and is the reason behind Theology of the Body and the destruction of heterosexual marriage we've seen in that time.

The singleminded focus of the libertine left on sex- caused a reaction in the libertine right to be focused on sex (and not focused enough on their libertine sin of using fiscal matters to control everything), causing everything to be broken.

Perhaps instead of continuing in the "us vs them" mentality that sexual orientation myth presents us with, we need to take a step back and acknowledge first, that we are children of God, not gay or straight or whatever.