City of Catholicity

“God bless Cardinal Robert Sarah. I welcome his Wall Street Journal commentary on the topic of homosexuality. It’s a hopeful sign that some members of the Church hierarchy have heard the cry of the faithful. To be specific: Of those who live with same-sex attraction, who sought compassion, coherence, and truth in the Catholic Church. Too often we found only confusion and tacit or outright approval of homosexual acts as well as “gay marriage.”

[…] I was a student in “Catholic” schools for twelve years. The one consistent teaching I received? That there are no absolute truths, except those pertaining to social justice (poverty, immigration, etc). When I confided my same-sex attraction to a priest, he told me that “God made me this way.” That “God understood.” He taught me that the totality of my moral obligations with regards to sexuality amounted to practicing safe-sex and finding a long-term partner. At the time I agreed with him, but he wasn’t offering anything I hadn’t heard before. I already knew I had to follow my own conscience. Secretly, I’d hoped his advice would be different. I wanted to know the truth, but no one was brave enough to share it with me. For nearly a decade, I never stepped inside a Catholic church again. 

[…] Still I struggled. I was willing to give up sinful sex. But I couldn’t walk away from what I thought was my identity. From everything that I thought made me unique — made me who I am.

Cardinal Sarah writes:

In her teaching about homosexuality, the Church carefully distinguishes three things: the person, who is always good because he or she is a child of God; homosexual attractions, which are not sinful if not willed or acted upon, but which are nevertheless not in harmony with our human nature; and homosexual actions, which are gravely sinful and tremendously harmful to the well-being of the human person. Those who identify themselves as members of the LGBTQ community are owed this truth in charity, especially from clergy who speak on behalf of the Church about this complex and difficult topic.

From Cardinal Sarah:

The Catholic Church has been criticized by many, including some of its own followers, for its pastoral response to the LGBT community. This criticism deserves a reply—not to defend the Church’s practices reflexively, but to determine whether we, as the Lord’s disciples, are reaching out effectively to a group in need. Christians must always strive to follow the new commandment Jesus gave at the Last Supper: “Love one another, even as I have loved you.”

To love someone as Christ loves us means to love that person in the truth. “For this I was born,” Jesus told Pontius Pilate, “to bear witness to the truth.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church reflects this insistence on honesty, stating that the church’s message to the world must “reveal in all clarity the joy and demands of the way of Christ.”

Those who speak on behalf of the church must be faithful to the unchanging teachings of Christ, because only through living in harmony with God’s creative design do people find deep and lasting fulfillment. Jesus described his own message in these terms, saying in the Gospel of John: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” Catholics believe that, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the church draws its teachings upon the truths of Christ’s message.

Among Catholic priests, one of the most outspoken critics of the church’s message with regard to sexuality is Father James Martin, an American Jesuit. In his book “Building a Bridge,” published earlier this year, he repeats the common criticism that Catholics have been harshly critical of homosexuality while neglecting the importance of sexual integrity among all of its followers.

Father Martin is correct to argue that there should not be any double standard with regard to the virtue of chastity, which, challenging as it may be, is part of the good news of Jesus Christ for all Christians. For the unmarried—no matter their attractions—faithful chastity requires abstention from sex.

This might seem a high standard, especially today. Yet it would be contrary to the wisdom and goodness of Christ to require something that cannot be achieved. Jesus calls us to this virtue because he has made our hearts for purity, just as he has made our minds for truth. With God’s grace and our perseverance, chastity is not only possible, but it will also become the source for true freedom.

We do not need to look far to see the sad consequences of the rejection of God’s plan for human intimacy and love. The sexual liberation the world promotes does not deliver its promise. Rather, promiscuity is the cause of so much needless suffering, of broken hearts, of loneliness, and of treatment of others as means for sexual gratification. As a mother, the church seeks to protect her children from the harm of sin, as an expression of her pastoral charity.

In her teaching about homosexuality, the church guides her followers by distinguishing their identities from their attractions and actions. First there are the people themselves, who are always good because they are children of God. Then there are same-sex attractions, which are not sinful if not willed or acted upon but are nevertheless at odds with human nature. And finally there are same-sex relations, which are gravely sinful and harmful to the well-being of those who partake in them. People who identify as members of the LGBT community are owed this truth in charity, especially from clergy who speak on behalf of the church about this complex and difficult topic.

It is my prayer that the world will finally heed the voices of Christians who experience same-sex attractions and who have discovered peace and joy by living the truth of the Gospel. I have been blessed by my encounters with them, and their witness moves me deeply. I wrote the foreword to one such testimony, Daniel Mattson’s book, “Why I Don’t Call Myself Gay: How I Reclaimed My Sexual Reality and Found Peace,” with the hope of making his and similar voices better heard.

Through the Rosary, we learn to pray in all main forms of prayer: with our lips in the words we recite, with our minds as we meditate on the mysteries, and with our hearts as love grows within us…. 

At Fatima, the only request Our Lady made to the shepherd children in all six of her apparitions was to pray the Rosary daily. She told the young visionaries:

‘The Rosary is powerful enough to stop wars; the Rosary can bring world peace; the Rosary can convert sinners!’ “

Patrick Coffin (via thebeautifulcatholicfaith)

He’s paraphrasing Chesterton:

“We can always convict such people of sentimentalism by their weakness for euphemism. The phrase they use is always softened and suited for journalistic appeals. They talk of free love when they mean something quite different, better defined as free lust. But being sentimentalists they feel bound to simper and coo over the word “love.” They insist on talking about Birth Control when they mean less birth and no control. We could smash them to atoms, if we could be as indecent in our language as they are immoral in their conclusions.” - G. K. Chesterton, Obstinate Orthodoxy

When the quest for holiness is replaced with the quest for happiness

“I was quite prepared to find fellow Catholics with different tastes in music, church architecture and liturgy.  I was also prepared to encounter Catholics with different opinions concerning politics, history, education and social matters. I knew I would also encounter a good number of poorly catechized Catholics who simply didn’t know their faith, and I was prepared for ‘dissenting’ Catholics who knew the faith, but disagreed with the teachings of the church while still remaining within her.

What I was not prepared for was to find two Churches within Holy Mother Church. These two churches are very difficult to identify and define because the two different groups cannot be separated according to outward criteria alone. It is too easy to divide these two groups according to ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’; ‘charismatic’ or ‘traditionalist’; ‘right wing’ or ‘left wing’. The two groups I am talking about exist within all these preferences. The two groups are distinguished not so much by what they do, the way they worship or the causes they espouse, but by their underlying understanding of just what the Catholic Church is for.

… Two very different sets of underlying foundations have created the two churches within the church. The two opposing views can be called ‘Happy Here’ and ‘Happy Hereafter.’ Those who hold the first believe that the point, not only of the church, but of the whole of human existence is to produce human happiness here in this life. The second is concerned with finding eternal happiness.

…When the quest for holiness is replaced with the quest for happiness the priest ceases to be an agent of God’s supernatural grace in the world and becomes a therapist, a social worker, or simply an avuncular administrator of the mutual self help group. When religion is expected to merely produce happiness, then worship is stripped of mystery and it must become entertaining. When religion is expected to simply make people feel better instead of being better no one preaches on the difficult or hard hitting subjects. The pulpit becomes a platform for pious platitudes that make people feel nice and the confessional ends up empty.

“The community, which will be called the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will be joined by one of the three Walsingham Sisters received into the Church before the ordinariate was first launched. They are intending to follow the Rule of St Benedict.

The Catholic Church:

(Key term: Heliocentric - Earth revolves around Sun. The previous held view was Geocentric - Sun revolves around the Earth)

Galileo wasn’t the first person to posit the theory of heliocentricity. In fact, Galileo’s work was built on the work of a dude named Copernicus

Copernicus’ most famous work, On the Revolution of the Celestial Orbs, in which he gave an excellent account of heliocentricity, was dedicated to Pope Paul III, for (st.) pete’s sake!

So needless to say, the Church did not take issue with the heliocentric worldview - it took issue with Galileo saying that a heliocentric worldview was contrary to scripture. It was not. This propagation of a false dichotomy would have caused crisis in the Church due to people believing they needed to choose between believing in reason/science and their faith. The Church and science have always been bros - they are both truth, so there is no conflict.

If Galileo had stuck to being a scientist and not taken it upon himself to interpret scripture, the Church would have embraced him and his work.

Another issue the Church had with Galileo was that he stated that the heliocentric worldview was fact before he had proof. The Church thought that was highly irresponsible as a scientist. Therefore, for these two reasons, it banned Galileo speaking/publishing on the subject.

GALILEO OBEYED THE CHURCH  AND EVERYTHING WAS COOL FOR A WHILE

                              U  N  T  I  L

The new head honcho Pope Urban VIII, a lifelong friend of Galileo, said that G could publish on the subject again, but only to discuss it as a theory, not a fact (remember, no one had proof of heliocentrism at the time) and just present arguments both for and against it. 

It could not have gone worse: “When Galileo wrote the Dialogue on the Two World Systems, he used an argument the pope had offered, and placed it in the mouth of his character Simplicio. Galileo, perhaps inadvertently, made fun of the pope, a result that could only have disastrous consequences. Urban felt mocked and could not believe how his friend could disgrace him publicly. Galileo had mocked the very person he needed as a benefactor. He also alienated his long-time supporters, the Jesuits, with attacks on one of their astronomers. The result was the infamous trial, which is still heralded as the final separation of science and religion.” (x)

The trial was to determine if Galileo had broken the previous agreement to refrain from presenting heliocentrism as prooven fact and as contrary to scripture, NOT (as anti-Catholics love to claim) to say “stop it with your science stuff, it threatens our Church.” Galileo said he did not violate the agreement, but the trial ruled that he did, and thus Galileo’s penance was house arrest.

P.S. You know how you always hear that Galileo was “tortured” and stuff? Well that would be kind of hard to hide from Galileo’s friend Nicolini, Tuscan ambassador to the Vatican, who was responsible for overseeing Galileo’s “imprisonment” in his own home with servants and every convenience at his beck and call. Even an anti-Catholic historian of the time, Giorgio de Santillana, said he “admired (the Church’s) scruples” in the matter (as in, their fairness and fair treatment of G). Nevertheless, the Church has subsequently apologized for certain aspects of the trial and ruling.

Sources and further reading: (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

I will vouch for Mystic Monk Coffee being superb, their Mystic Monk blend is my regular go to coffee. I’d like to say I want to try everything on the list but I don’t have a dog and chances are when I need the casket you probably won’t be hearing from me. 

From Aleteia – Mother Angelica, a Poor Clare of Perpetual Adoration, never did anything in a small way. She was known for her ability to parry a quick retort, make a wry observation or toss off a witticism that could catch a listener off-guard in its wisdom. Due to a stroke, the EWTN foundress had been silent for more than a decade, but her dart-like observations still hit their mark. We’ve collected a few for you, here. Most of these were found in Mother Angelica’s Little Book of Life Lessons and Everyday Spirituality:

On Conversion: Even the devil believes that God exists. Believing has to change the way we live.

On Faith: Faith is one foot on the ground, one foot in the air and a queasy feeling in the stomach.

On clarity: If you are following God, he never shows you the end. It’s always a walk of faith.

On Trust: Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous.

On Mindfulness: Everyone drags his own carcass to market, so be careful.

On Love: Love is not a feeling; it’s a decision.

On Mercy: You can’t go to heaven hating somebody. Forgive now.

On Anger: St. Jerome used to hit himself with a rock every time he lost his temper. I’d be dead as a doornail with no ribs if I did that.

On Struggle If you’ve got a cross, carry it. It’s to make you holy.

On Reality: Those who tell the truth love you. Those who tell you what you want to hear love themselves.

On Error: Every moment of life is like God saying, “Look, I know you messed up the last moment, but here’s a new one.”

On Pride: Once you contemplate the humility of Jesus in the Eucharist, how can you possibly justify your pride?

On the Courage to Suffer: It takes a lot of guts to be in pain all day long.

On Enemies: Don’t say, “If it weren’t for that person I could be holy.” No; you can be holy because of that person.

On Not Limiting God: Your plans, your projects, your dreams have to always be bigger than you, so God has room to operate.

On Perseverance: Faith is what gets you started. Hope is what keeps you going. Love is what brings you to the end.

On Holiness: Holiness is a beautiful struggle.

On Death: I guess that is what dying must be like: to be finished and to be able to look back at the struggles of life and know that God was your constant companion.

On Serving: God looks for dodos. A dodo doesn’t know it can’t be done. God uses dodos, and I’m a dodo.

Lord, I lift up to you all abortionists and their staff, including: all technicians, nurses, receptionists, counselors, chaplains, and all who are employed or voluntarily assisting with the killing of the unborn in any way. I place each one of them in the innermost recesses of Your Sacred Heart – Your heart of mercy, compassion and love for all Your children. I pray that they will accept the supernatural graces that You give them this day to rennounce the: the horrific killing of Your children, the psychological, physical, and spiritual harm that they are doing to women through their actions, and the tremendous spiritual, physical, and psychological harm they are doing to themselves. Give them an abundance of courage and strength to say “No” to murder and to escape the culture of death and the constant torment and resentment that they experience in their lives. As they approach You, encourage them to draw nearer, remove the veil that covers their eyes and blinds them to the truth. Pour out Your tender, loving mercy upon them that they will see the truth, the reality, and the consequences of their actions. Draw them into the light of your love and penetrate their souls with the light of truth, the light of Your knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. I pray this in the Holy name of Jesus through the intercession of Our Blessed Virgin Mary. For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on them, and on all the whole world!

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!