The yoke must be broken.

"Modern man prides himself on his "freedom," but in reality he is a slave. A slave to fear, a slave to lust, a slave to money, a slave to human opinion. He thinks that by rejecting God he will become master of his own destiny, but instead he falls into slavery to a thousand petty idols. True freedom is found only in Christ. Only He can free the soul from the fear of death, from the power of sin, from the tyranny of passions. But people do not desire this freedom because it requires heroic effort. It is easier to remain a slave than to fight for the Kingdom of Heaven."

-Saint Nicholas of Serbia

And yet, weirdly, Christians are still subject to those "idols" and "passions". They are usually even worse, actually. Almost as if Christianity only exists to justify bad behavior.

Saying people outside your in-group are not privy to your secret knowledge is what religion is all about. Everyone other than you and people who act exactly like you are not only evil, but also stupid and wearing blindfolds for no reason. Treating your enemies like strawmen in a South Park episode is completely Christian behavior. Have you not read the Psalms?

This implies there's some sort of magical knowledge that will finally make the Unbelievable God make sense. But it only implies that. It doesn't back any of it up. There's no secret Bible verse that'll make people who don't believe believe immediately. What Christians are blabbering about is all they have. They've already gotten out their best arguments and they're all comically bad. That's why it's called apologetics, because it's sorry as shit.

Oh, and when the Bible says "unbelievers", they mean, like, the mean atheist professor in God's Not Dead or the kind of atheist who exists only in stories titled "An Unexpected Encounter at Starbucks". They don't mean "Potential conversion target". I know this not because I know the original Greek or Hebrew word the authors used, but because it's obvious from the context clues.

More "Catholicism is so edgy, guys!" nonsense.

326. What is the effect of episcopal ordination?

"Episcopal ordination confers the fullness of sacrament of Holy Orders. It makes the bishop a legitimate successor of the apostles and integrates him into the episcopal college to share with the Pope and the other bishops care for all the churches. It confers on him the offices of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling."

That first sentence means nothing. "Fullness of sacrament?" How can a ritual that does nothing be full of anything? Other that, you know, lies and bullshit.

This whole "apostolic succession" bit is Catholic Serious Business. That's why the SSPX was excommunicated. It's one of the selling points of the Church... except literally any organization that's existed for some time can trace its current members back to whatever number of founders it has. There doesn't need to be a little magic show to cement that.

327. What is the office confided to a Bishop in a particular Church? "The bishop to whom the care of a particular Church is entrusted is the visible head and foundation of unity for that Church. For the sake of that Church, as vicar of Christ, he fulfills the office of shepherd and is assisted by his own priests and deacons."

Ah, so it's the bishop's job to shift around the priests when people find out they're pedophiles and to shuffle around their assets so they can pretend they're broke when they lose lawsuits about said pedophiles being pedophiles. He's a mob lieutenant.

There was a recent story about a Catholic organization called the Brothers in Christ or something that in Australia and they were somehow being even bigger rapists than usual for Catholic priests so they lost a bunch of lawsuits. Except, on paper, they don't have the money to pay these lawsuits out, so now the government has to step in and pay up.

The most Christian people are those who know the least about the Bible. They don't read it themselves. They let their priests and pastors tell them about it or do one of those bible study courses. They let other people tell them what's in there and what's important.

Gen AI and Christianity are a lot alike. They're both things rich people are forcing on others as a means of control. They're both massively world-shrinking, thought-destroying entities. They are both objectively bad, but they are trying so hard to get people to take them seriously. People who champion either are among the most wrong people on the planet. Both seem content on severely limiting the amount of time Earth remains habitable.

324. What place does the sacrament of Holy Orders have in the divine plan of salvation?

"This sacrament was prefigured in the Old Covenant in the service of the Levites, in the priesthood of Aaron, and in the institution of the seventy "Elders" (Numbers 11:25). These prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus who by the sacrifice of the cross is the "one mediator between God and man" (1 Timothy 2:5), the "High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 5:10). The one priesthood of Christ is made present in the ministerial priesthood."

"Only Christ is the true priest, the others being only his ministers."  (Saint Thomas Aquinas)

Yes, I'm sure these things were "prefigured" and you didn't just write them in a way to fit the stuff that was already there.

Also, the first time I heard of Melchizedek was when I played Persona 3 so this is what I imagine when I hear that name:

If Jesus was in the same order as this guy, why didn't he punch people better? This guy helped me punch people better than the character whose whole deal was punching people. Jesus never did anything like that for me.

He does look like if Bibleman was a super sentai villain.

325. What are the degrees that make up the sacrament of Holy Orders? "The sacrament of Holy Orders is composed of three degrees which are irreplaceable for the organic structure of the Church: the episcopate, the presbyterate and the diaconate."

321. What are the sacraments at the service of communion and mission?

"Two sacraments, Holy Orders and Matrimony, confer a special grace for a particular mission in the Church to serve and build up the People of God. These sacraments contribute in a special way to ecclesial communion and to the salvation of others."

As, yes, the worst two sacraments. Yes, even worse than confession, and even worse than infant baptism. These two sacraments are the pillars of a misogynist organization that believes it should have power over everyone else. No amount of Mary devotion or performative charity can fix that.

322. What is the sacrament of Holy Orders? "It is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to his apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time." "Go make an organized religion", says Fictional Guy Famously Killed By Organized Religion. It's okay because it's their organized religion and not Jewish.

323. Why is this sacrament called Holy Orders?

"Orders designates an ecclesial body into which one enters by means of a special consecration (ordination). Through a special gift of the Holy Spirit, this sacrament enables the ordained to exercise a sacred power in the name and with the authority of Christ for the service of the People of God."

Be certain that the wrongdoing you commit is always your own and yours to acknowledge.

― Saint Benedict, The Rule of Saint Benedict

"C'mon, guy. I just need a little more time. There's been an accident at the grace factory and that means the whole divine favor distribution system is out of whack. I don't know when everything will be back to normal, but you have to trust me, okay? You know I'm good for it! Remember that time when... well, I never actually did anything for you, but all these other people say that's what I do, and you believe them, right? Right?"

This verse doesn't even say that. It's this:

"20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

Apparently he was agnostic, not an atheist, but I do not expect Catholics or fans of GK Chesterton to know what the difference is or care about it. Here I was thinking, like an idiot, that Catholicism is anti-lying or whatever.

Well, this is why I'm extremely unfair to the Catholic Church. Because fuck them. They had their chance with me and they blew it.

SEVEN final phrases. Seven. Final. Phrases. That's some shit only a god can do. Except Jesus was supposedly human so he couldn't do that. But he could. But he couldn't. He could and he couldn't, but God can't do anything that doesn't make logical sense, except he can because he's omnipotent, but he can't because the people who imagine him have the imagination of a Fox News viewer.

I'm just going to count how many times I get asks like this.