Just When You Think He Can't Get Worse

The recently unveiled cross carrying the life jacket of an unknown migrant, now hanging in the Vatican, raises serious questions and concerns, as the Crucifix for Christians knows only one occupant: Jesus Christ.

On December 19, 2019, Pope Francis met with 33 asylum-seekers from the Greek island of Lesbos, who were brought to Rome by Cardinal Konrad Krajewski. To mark the occasion, a cross was unveiled in the Belvedere Courtyard in the Vatican to pay tribute to the migrants who have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea. The cross is quite unusual, to put it mildly: the body of the cross is transparent, like water, and is encircled by an orange life jacket exactly at the place where Christ would be placed on the cross. The orange life jacket belonged to an unknown migrant who lost his or her life at sea in July 2019.

That nameless migrant, emphasized Pope Francis, was a victim of injustice. “It is injustice that rejects them and causes them to die at sea,” the pontiff said. 

It might appears as if the cross is “wearing” a migrant’s life jacket. In fact, the migrant’s life jacket occupies the place of Christ Crucified; the jacket is the substitute for Christ on the cross. The unusual cross is controversial, with some Italians wondering if this is Francis’s message for Christmas—making them feel guilty for not helping and caring enough for migrants. Is the unusual cross a tool to guilt the faithful, especially at Christmas?

It certainly raises serious questions and concerns, as the Crucifix for Christians knows only one occupant: Jesus Christ, who is the center and the summit of the Christian faith. “The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ,” states the Catechism of the Catholic Church (par. 618), and the Modern Catholic Encyclopedia (The Liturgical Press, 1994) explains that the cross is the “most solemn and significant symbol of the Christian faith…” In 2,000 years of Christian history, Christians have never had any Crucifix other than the Redemptive cross carrying the lifeless body of Christ crucified for humanity’s sins. Christ’s cross is indeed not replaceable or substitutable with any other image, because only one death on the cross is a Redemptive and Salvific Death—a death that cannot be compared to any other death or any other suffering, neither by metonymy (life jacket substituting for Christ) nor by a metaphor.

From Father Longenecker

My attention was drawn to a tweet by a priest in Kentucky called Fr Jim Sichko.

 I tried to verify the tweet, but when I looked him up it seems he has blocked me from his account. I can’t understand why because to the best of my memory I can’t remember ever crossing swords with him.

But anyway, the tweet was a load of sentimental nonsense along the lines of, “Let us all remember during this time of the Holy Family that all families are holy. Some are heterosexual and some are homosexual. Some are single mothers and some are poor, divorced or widowed.”

I certainly don’t want to judge anyone on the basis of one tweet, and tweeting is a fun and dangerous business because of its brevity it is so easy to misunderstand what someone means. However, it was pretty hard not to see this tweet for what it was.

It pretended to be a message to raise our awareness and compassion for those who live in irregular and difficult family situations. However, anybody can see that it was really a lame attempt to to normalize homosexual unions by putting gay couples into a victim category.
The tactic works like this:

1. paint someone or some group as a victim of discrimination
2. push some guilt buttons to raise “compassion” for that group. Note that this is not true compassion. It’s just guilt wearing a compassion mask so the person doesn’t feel so guilty anymore
3. Raise the compassion to the level of advocacy
4. Advocacy must mean acceptance
5. Acceptance must mean condoning
6. Condoning must lead to celebrating.

Let’s analyze this a bit.  A person or a family is not automatically “holy” simply because they are unusual. This error is similar to the one so prevalent within Catholicism in which people assume that the poor are holy simply and only because they are poor. Being poor in and of itself does not make a person holy. Being a member of a persecuted group in and of itself does not make a person holy.

I bet he's Facebook friends with James Martin

Oh, Those Wacky Germans!

Once again, the German archbishop, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, responded positively to the question, “What do you do when a homosexual couple asks you for an episcopal blessing.”  He claims not to be promoting a general ecclesial solution and, hence, a general public liturgical blessing for same-sex relations. And he even rejects calling such a relationship marriage. Nevertheless, he says, “the decision should be made ‘on the ground, and [considering] the individual under pastoral care’.”

Another German, this time Johannes zu Eltz, the Catholic Dean of the city of Frankfurt am Main, is engaged in the pastoral care of homosexuals. He says, “the question is whether the church is able to learn that good things happen in those relationships; that homosexual couples . . . by their companionship give birth to moral goods for themselves and for others: love, loyalty, commitment, fecundity, chastity. If this is true, then there is the possibility to confirm these goods and to ask for God’s providence and guidance for this couple. That is what we call a blessing.”
Similar reasoning comes from Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück, the deputy chairman of the German Episcopacy.
Well, let's see what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say about it...
 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).

From The "Paper of Record"

U.S.—Biblical scholars from the nation's top divinity schools now believe Jesus ignored the gold, frankincense, and myrrh brought by the Magi and simply played with the boxes that the gifts came in. 
The toddler Jesus reportedly tossed aside the valuable gifts and started playing with the containers. He turned the box the gold came in into a pretend spaceship, making "pew pew pew" noises for hours. Later on, he tired of that and grabbed the myrrh box, wearing it on his head all afternoon and running around the house cackling like a madman.

The frankincense was "the best gift of all," according to the little Savior, as it came in a "huge" box he used to build a giant pretend robot. 
"Man, we spent a lot of time picking those gifts out," one Magi wrote in his personal journal. "And he immediately threw them to the side and just played with the boxes. Oh well. At least they were nice boxes."
Mary reportedly used a dab of the frankincense to calm herself down as Jesus attempted to stack the boxes up and perform dangerous parkour stunts on them.

Can Tattoos Be Sacramentals?

The Catholic News Agency writes and entire article about it. Allow me to summarize....

NO.

Islamic Outreach, Part CXV

From an earlier post on this blog:

Pope Francis spoke to the diplomatic corps and amongst other things, said, "Hence it is important to intensify dialogue among the various religions, and I am thinking particularly of dialogue with Islam."

MEANWHILE...

BLOODTHIRSTY ISIS terrorists have reportedly beheaded 11 Christian hostages on Christmas Day in Nigeria.

The militants said in a sickening video that the mass killing was in revenge for the deaths “of our leaders, including Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi”.


Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which includes supporters from Boko Haram, released a shocking 56-second video.

Claiming to show their captives’ execution, the clip was produced by ISIS's media arm, Amaq, reports the BBC.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was deeply concerned about reports that civilians have been executed, and others abducted, by an armed group in northern Borno State, northeastern Nigeria.

To show their concern, the U.N. passed a resolution condemning Israel.

Cardinal Dolan Sets the Record Straight

"The Son of God was homeless; his earthly parents were immigrants and refugees."

I knew I was too smart to be a Bishop, but a Cardinal?

I'm Going To Carbondale Today. I am a Refugee.

Pete Buttigieg has tried to carve out a niche among Democratic presidential hopefuls as the candidate who is comfortable talking about religion. Unfortunately, he’s only comfortable trying to use religion as a means of beating conservatives, especially religious ones, over the head.
This annoying penchant was on display again in Buttigieg’s Christmas message. He tweeted:

Today I join millions around the world in celebrating the arrival of divinity on earth, who came into this world not in riches but in poverty, not as a citizen but as a refugee. No matter where or how we celebrate, merry Christmas.

Buttigieg’s message struck me as fake history. To my understanding, Jesus (the name Buttigieg conspicuously omitted from his tweet) came into the world neither as a refugee nor in poverty.
I’m not an expert on these matters, so tonight on our Power Line VIP program, I checked with John, a devout Christian and student of religion. John confirmed that Joseph, a carpenter, was a working man and not impoverished.

Joseph was also not a refugee, whatever that might mean in the context of the Roman Empire. Joseph and his family were traveling back to Joseph’s native town because the Romans were requiring people to do so for purposes of a census. They weren’t fleeing anyone, nor were they homeless. They were travelers, not refugees.

Hey! Pelosi Says She's Catholic...Maybe It's Time to Impeach!

Pope Francis has certainly said a lot of controversial things over the years, but what he just told a group of Christian high school students is the most controversial of all.  I know that may be hard to believe, because some of the statements that Pope Francis has made in recent years have definitely been extremely bizarre.  For example, he has said that “Muslim terrorism does not exist”, he told a gay man that “God made you that way”, and he has referred to Christian fundamentalists as “a scourge”.  But what he has just said tops all of those previous statements.  According to Breitbart, Pope Francis told a group of high school students that he was visiting with that they should never try to convert others to Christianity…

Pope Francis told Christian high school students this weekend they should respect people of other faiths and not attempt to convert them to Christianity, insisting “we are not living in the times of the crusades.”
Asked by one of the students Friday how a Christian should treat people of other faiths or no faith, the pope said that “we are all the same, all children of God” and that true disciples of Jesus do not proselytize.

Football teams proselytize, this can be done. Political parties, can be done there. But with faith there is no proselytism

Father Longenecker Dismantles the Jesuit, James Martin

 Read it all.


Fr James Martin has taken to Twitter again to whine and distort the truth in his usual subtle way. This time he is lamenting the request made by Fr Scott Nolan in Grand Rapids that Judge Smolenski refrain from presenting herself for communion.

Below are Fr Martin’s tweets with my replies.

James Martin: As with all these sad cases, the question is: Why are only married LGBT people being singled out? Is Communion denied to all parishioners who are not following church teachings? That is, married couples using birth control or IVF? Or young people engaging in pre-marital sex?

DL: LGBT people are not being “singled out” for not following church teachings.  Ms Smolenski was not denied communion because she is a lesbian. She is not even being denied communion for being in a lesbian relationship. She is being denied communion because she “married” another woman. This is not simply a matter of “not following church teachings.” By attempting a marriage with a woman Ms Smolenski publicly, formally and irremediably denied the Catholic teaching about marriage.

Marriage is a Catholic sacrament. It is one of the means of grace. For it to be a valid sacrament it requires proper form, minister and matter. The proper matter is the conjugal act. The proper ministers are the man and woman marrying one another. Therefore to attempt a same sex marriage is not simply “not following church teachings” it is rejecting church teachings and doing so formally and publicly. When a Catholic attempts a same sex marriage they are rejecting the Catholic teaching about the sacraments.

That Fr Martin does not admit this or teach this indicates either that he is very poorly educated (but he is a Jesuit so that can’t be the case) or he is deliberately misleading God’s people.
Attempting to marry a person of the same sex is not at the same level of commitment as a couple using birth control or IVF or someone committing fornication. All these sins are private sins and can be repented of. In a same sex marriage the person is not just “not following church teaching.” They are rejecting church teaching.  They are saying by their words and actions, “Gay sex is not a sin. It is something to be celebrated. It is something God blesses. The Catholic Church is wrong and I am publicly, formally declaring that I reject the Catholic Church’s teaching.”
In other words it is not breaking the rules it is rejecting the rules and in rejecting the rules rejecting the authority that sets those rules.

This distinction is something any eighth grade confirmation student could understand.

I'm Begging. Please Stop.

Vatican City, Dec 2, 2019 / 10:59 am (CNA).- Catholic business owners have both a grave responsibility and an opportunity to promote the Church’s social teaching in a difficult atmosphere, Pope Francis told young entrepreneurs Monday.

“I am well aware that it is not easy, in everyday life, to reconcile the needs of the faith and the social teaching of the Church with the needs and constraints imposed by the laws of the market and of globalization,” he said in the Vatican’s apostolic palace Dec. 2.

The pope noted some of the challenges that come with working in the business world, or with owning a business, such as the decisions which impact the survival of one’s company and the support of employees and their families with the payment of a just wage.

“I am thinking of working conditions, wages, job offers and their stability, as well as environmental protection. How can we live these conflicts in serenity and hope, while the Christian entrepreneur is sometimes led to silence his own convictions and ideals?” he asked.

The Love That Won't Shut Up

Grand Rapids, Mich., Nov 27, 2019 / 06:55 pm (CNA).- A Michigan diocese said it supports a priest who told a parishioner that because of her same-sex civil marriage she should not receive the Eucharist.

“Inclusion and acceptance have been a hallmark of Catholic Churches in the Diocese of Grand Rapids throughout the diocese’s history. They remain so. They presume, however, a respect on the part of individuals for the teachings and practice of the wider Catholic community,” the Diocese of Grand Rapids said in a statement Thursday.

“No community of faith can sustain the public contradiction of its beliefs by its own members. This is especially so on matters as central to Catholic life as marriage, which the Church has always held, and continues to hold, as a sacred covenant between one man and one woman.” the diocese added.

The diocesan statement came after a Nov. 26 report from local news channel WOOD TV 8, which claimed that Fr. Scott Nolan of St. Stephen Parish in East Grand Rapid had “denied Communion,” to Judge Sara Smolenski, chief judge of the Kent County District Court.

Notice that it doesn't use the Bishop's name? Here he is:

Father David J. Walkowiak

 

 

  This made me laugh:

Smolenski and Nolan have had previous run-ins. The judge is one of several parishioners who has criticized some of Nolan’s actions as pastor of the parish; which have included requiring that lectors at parish Masses be Catholics.

And this:


“I try to be a good and faithful servant to our Lord Jesus Christ. My faith is a huge part of who I am, but it is the church that made that faith, the very church where he is taking a stance and saying ho-ho, not you,” she added, also telling the local news station that she had devoted her life to the Church and recently given a $7,000 gift to the parish.

There's the Real World, Then There's...

 Read the whole thing:

The indefatigable apologist for Islam Pope Francis on Monday issued yet another mea culpa to Muslims, saying: “A scene from The Song of Roland comes to me as a symbol, when the Christians defeat the Muslims and line them up in front of the baptismal font, with one holding a sword. And the Muslims had to choose between baptism or the sword. That is what we Christians did.”

Was it really? The Song of Roland is actually a work of fiction, a French epic poem loosely based on the Battle of Roncevaux Pass between Muslim invaders and Christian defenders in the year 778. As The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS shows, in the eleventh century, three hundred years after the battle, The Song of Roland appeared, describing the heroism of Charlemagne’s nephew Roland, who is leading the rear guard of Charlemagne’s forces and is caught up in the Muslim ambush.

Roland has an oliphant, a horn made of an elephant’s tusk, which he can use to call for help, but he initially declines to do so, thinking it would be cowardly. Finally, Roland does blow his horn. Charlemagne, way ahead of the rear guard, nonetheless hears Roland’s horn and hurries back, but it is too late: Roland and his men are dead, and the Muslims victorious. Charlemagne, however, pursues and vanquishes the Muslims, and captures Saragossa.

Thus the legend. The Song of Roland was enormously popular and inculcated in the Christians who sang and celebrated it what came to be known (in the European Middle Ages) as knightly virtues: loyalty, courage, and perseverance, even in the face of overwhelming odds. These were virtues that would be needed if Europe was to hold out against the ever-advancing jihad.

But those days are long gone, and Europe is no longer holding out against the jihad. Now the pope is much more interested in defending Islam than Christianity. In September 2017, Pope Francis met in the Vatican with Dr. Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Al-Issa, the secretary-general of the Muslim World League (MWL), a group that has been linked to the financing of jihad terror. During the meeting, al-Issa thanked the pope for his “fair positions” on what he called the “false claims that link extremism and violence to Islam.”