Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Traditional Roman Catholic Thoughts

Reintroducing Logic and Reason to the Age of Sentimentalism

Comments on the Supposed “Split” Within The Church

I was asked a good question earlier in the week:

“What is this split between us traditional and the ‘liberal’ Roman Catholics? The Creed says ‘I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church’.”

Simply put, what it boils down to is the traditional side being the actual Catholic, since the traditional Catholic is more than likely practicing the faith, according to the Church. The liberal Catholic doesn’t want to follow the Church and her teachings. The liberal Catholic is a promoter of heresy.

But, let’s look at this some more. Why are traditional Catholics, that is, those Catholics who do follow the Church and her teachings, being labeled as “traditionalist”? Catholics are supposed to follow the Church and her teachings and live those values out, right?

This would mean that the “traditionalist” Catholic, really is just a plain Catholic, that is, a Catholic who goes to Mass weekly, goes to confession as needed, spends time in prayer, is faithful to the Church, etc. Really, when you think of a Buddhist, you think of someone who is a…practicing Buddhist. When you think of a Muslim, you think of someone who is a…practicing Muslim. By this same logic, a Catholic is someone who is a practicing Catholic.

We like to put labels on groups of people to make them seem like they are our allies or our enemies. If “traditionalists” went by just plain Catholics, the threat of potential “liberals” hijacking Catholic to distort it seems greater. Case in point: The National Catholic Reporter (or Distorter (or Schismatic Reporter)). About 99% of the reporting is biased journalism wanting the Church to allow gay “marriage”, ordain women, allow priests to marry and the list goes on…and on…and on.

A Catholic, as stated earlier, would be a faithful Catholic. We don’t need to add any labels, really, except maybe “unfaithful”. You would have Catholics, and unfaithful “catholics”, that is, a catholic in name only.

What is interesting with this split, is how the Catholic and the catholic in name only argue with each other. The Catholic is always being told to calm down, listen to the Pope, not be so rash, be open minded, and other such things. Why is it that the Catholic, who already does these things have to constantly re-pledge their obedience to the Church? Meanwhile, the “catholic” never has to do this. They think for themselves, are “allowed to disagree”, etc. A perfect example would be the Catholic wants to receive Jesus kneeling, and gets denied (this is “okay”) but the “catholic” who is openly pro-abortion can receive Jesus. Denial of communion to the “catholic” would be viewed as a horrendous act. The Catholic would agree with me, but the “catholic” would accuse me of whining. To prove that I am not whining, and am merely opening up dialogue and am quite jolly, here is a picture of me being jolly.

Jolly Jeff

One way to help heal the split, would be to publicly excommunicate those who claim to be catholic from the Church. Now, excommunication is a form of help. It doesn’t sound like it is, but here’s how.

When someone is excommunicated, they are basically told that they are not in alignment with Church teaching, and are not able to use the sacraments until they have publicly repented and a bishop (normally there’s) has lifted the excommunication. This excommunication would force the Catholic in question to reexamine their motives and learn why what they believe is wrong. Excommunication, in essence, is there for the individual to learn from their mistakes, to come to know Christ and His teachings on particular issues. It also let’s others know that the individual is not to be trusted in religious matters and is discredited.

This split needs healing immediately. I mentioned in my last post how we need to start re-evangelizing our fellow Catholics. We all need to learn, live and love our faith. With this, we can win people over. Again, Christ is for everyone! Though you need to pray for those as well.

Jeff April 26, 2013 3 Comments Permalink

Let’s Be Honest, The Church Isn’t “1.2 Billion Strong”

I think its high time we stop using the 1.2 Billion number when it comes to talking about how many Catholics there are in the world.

Now, before you start commenting and quit reading, yes, I know, once baptized a Catholic, always technically a Catholic. But, here’s the problem.

It all comes down to the numbers. I understand the above logic/theology, it makes sense. When we are baptized, we are permanently marked by the sacrament and this can not be undone. You can’t be “unbaptized”. Even if you leave the Church and say…convert to Islam. You will still be a “baptized Catholic”. And here-in lies the problem.

When we continually pretend that all of these members are practicing Catholics, we do an insult to those that actually practice. Being a Catholic, actually means, practicing the Catholic faith.

We know that in the United States, only 30% of Catholics go to Mass on a regular basis. In Europe, the numbers are much lower (something like 10-15% in the European countries). On top of that, a number of Catholics use contraception, engage in pre-marital sex, and a slew of other sins. I’ll be very clear here. These are Catholics that have not repented. The Church teaches that if you die with unrepentant Mortal Sin, you will go to Hell. Jesus teaches this when He mentions the only unforgivable sin is blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. Blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is unrepentant  mortal sin. Jesus can’t forgive you if you aren’t sorry. Go to confession.

So, if we actually look at the number of Catholics that actually practice their faith and are repentant for their mistakes, the actual number of Catholics is much, much, much lower.

Let’s just assume that 10% is our worst case scenario (though, if you’ve read Matthew Kelly’s Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, it is probably a best case scenario). The Church really only has about a 120 Million.

If we ran a business with the logic that we can claim all of our money that we’ve ever had, even after we’ve spent it and given it to our employees, we would be in trouble, big time.

We need to address this problem. The 1.2 Billion number makes it seem like the Church is doing really well, when we know its not. The 120 Million number works better, as it points out how we need to improve. We need to reach out and evangelize those other 1.08 Billion Catholics.

120 million practicing Catholics in the world would be a good starting point of saying how “strong” we are. After all, Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi say they are Catholic, yet we know they aren’t really. If we each spent time with a fellow Catholic friend, or even a non-Catholic friend (why can’t we Evangelize non-Catholics? (I wouldn’t be here if my Catholic friend didn’t evangelize to me)), taught them what the Church actually believed and got them to practice, we would multiple and be a 1.2 billion members strong. One by one and we will bring everyone to Christ, only one by one.

Jeff April 25, 2013 8 Comments Permalink

The Boston Marathon Bombings

As you have probably already heard, there were multiple bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday.

From what the latest reports are saying, it appears that there are only 3 deaths. All lives lost is a tragedy, and I’m not trying to underscore their deaths, I’m pointing out though, that for it to only be 3, is very fortunate. About 176 people were injured, though, I’m sure this number will rise. Hopefully, with lots of prayer, the injured will stay alive.

Many of these people will have a new life in front of them. Some of these people will not be amputees. I can’t imagine what it would be like to one minute be able to walk, and the next have lost a limb. They face a very difficult struggle in the days to come and my prayers will be with them.

I would ask that you add the people to your personal prayer intentions.

The explosion itself was…horrifying to watch. There were many emotions I felt while watching it. Anger, compassion, rage, sadness, hopelessness are just a few. I’ll attach a video of a cameraman who was filming at the finish line when it went off. WARNING: It is very graphic, if you are sensitive to this, do not watch. You’ve been warned.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=046MuD1pYJg]

What amazes me was the swift response by Boston’s finest during this mass confusion. I’m also amazed at the volunteer’s and many of the bystander’s quick response in helping pull the gates off to get to the wounded. This is a perfect example of love and selflessness.

I haven’t heard much if they found the guy/gal/group responsible for this yet or not. I hope they do obviously.

Its to be remembered that whoever did do this, needs prayers. Jesus told us specifically to pray for our enemies. It is hard. It is supposed to be. If they ask for forgiveness and repent, it will be given to them. We are all sinners, and its difficult to fathom why God would forgive someone for causing this much destruction, but God’s love and mercy extends to all. Jesus died on the Cross for all of us, but it is up to us to ask for it.

Pray for Boston.

Jeff April 16, 2013 Leave A Comment Permalink

Federal Judge Demands FDA Make Morning After Pill Over the Counter

From Fox News:

A federal judge ruled Friday that the morning-after abortion pill known as Plan B must be made available over the counter for women of all ages.
The decision on the controversial subject comes after very lengthy legal battles over who should have access to the pill and at what age.
The Food and Drug Administration had initially decided to allow the emergency pill to be available for young teens. But Health and Human Services Secretary overruled the FDA in late 2011.
The decision Friday by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ordered the FDA to make the pill available for all ages.

For those of you unaware, the Morning After Pill is basically an abortion in a pill. This is terrible news. Pray that the FDA does not follow this and that an appeal is made.

We have made huge strides in the pro-life circle lately, but, unfortunately, this decision is devestating news. These dangerous drugs are now being allowed to be freely given to girls at any age, without the parents’ knowledge or consent.

The pro-choice community’s only choice that they will allow is that of death. If you choose to kill a baby in the womb, its okay, but the choice of anything else isn’t allowed. Hypocrisy at its finest.

Pray!

Jeff April 5, 2013 Leave A Comment Permalink

Rediscover Your Catholic Faith

The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis just wrapped up their “Rediscover Faith” series. They worked closely with Matthew Kelly on this in order to help jump start the faith within the Archdiocese. At Christmas this past year, they gave away copies of “Rediscover Catholicism” (which I reviewed last Summer) to everybody that came to Christmas Mass (since many people want to go to Mass on Christmas).

They’ve encouraged book study groups to form through each parish (my wife and I started our own through our Young Adult group) and that has been taking off like wildfire, I don’t recall the exact number, but if memory does serve me right, there were about 400(?) different groups. This is magnificent.

The Archdiocese sponsored a speaker series in which once a week, every other week, we would all meet at a parish and there would be a presentation of a specific topic within our faith. This was highly successful as we went generally to the largest parish in the Archdiocese, and it literally ended up being standing room only.

I wanted to more or less draw attention to the website that the Archdiocese kicked off. Rediscover-Faith.org is the name of the site and they have a numerous amount of resources to help you learn more about the faith, in a very simple and easy to understand way. They have articles, videos, and even a smart phone app for your Apple or Android phones and tablets. I personally have not used the app yet, as I apparently have too old of a phone. I should be getting a new phone shortly though, and am excited to try it out. It shows all parishes within the Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis as well as confession times. It sounds like a great tool to help you in your faith and prayer life too, allowing you to organize and keep track of what you have been doing. Sounds similar to what I’ve been saying on spiritual discernment, spiritual examination and prayer routine.

The videos range from long to short. The long ones are generally the talk that they gave for the week, so they are about an hour in length. They are well worth the view though. I believe they are downloadable so if you would rather listen you can do that.

I highly recommend going through the site if you can. I am only one man, who works full time and has many other responsibilities. I do my best to update this blog as often as I can, and I think of lots of interesting things to talk about, but, here is a site that goes down to the basics and can probably explain it better than I can. However, I think its important that if you ever have a question about the faith, please, please, please don’t hesitate to ask. Leave a comment on pages (I allow anonymous posts (for the time being)). I really do enjoy talking about Jesus and His Holy Catholic Church. So, again, don’t be afraid to ask.

Jeff April 2, 2013 Leave A Comment Permalink