The Bible and Cognitive Dissonance

Trying To Make Sense of It All

Recently, at Father Tim Moyle's blog, "Where the Rubber Hits the Road", he and I have gotten into a discussion with our friend Wayne (Small Town Guy) about Genesis.  We have also discussed the Eucharist and lately got on to the sacrament of Confession.  Though the discussions are interesting, there seems to be no reconciling of Catholic teaching (darn Papists - whore of Babylon!!) with Protestant teaching (which version of the over 30,000 are we talking today?).  But, we soldier on.

As I read an interesting article over at the Archdiocese of Washington (Who says nothing good comes out of Washington?) blog site this morning by Monsignor Charles Pope, I was reminded of the Genesis discussion we had with Wayne a while back.

Wayne kind of warned us to tread lightly regarding Genesis, as he took the creation narrative literally.  I forgot to ask him which one he was taking literally since they seem to have some conflict with each other.  Father Tim presented a diagram of how the earth of the first story of creation looked to the people of the time - you may know the dome over the earth concept.  Wayne countered that THAT was not in the Bible, and so didn't count.  Pretty much ground the discussion to a halt with that one.

Cognitive dissonance occurs when you hold two conflicting thoughts or views in your mind, which are not readily reconcilable and therefor create a tension, possibly until your head explodes, or you pop a blood vessel.  The two stories of creation in Genesis are an example of a possible cognitive dissonance, if they are to be taken literally.

Monsignor Pope brings perspective to the creation story, and in fact to the bible. 

Before digging in to the creation story/stories, he sets the stage with some thoughts from Father Robert Barron, from Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, about the bible as a whole.  Here is what he had to say:

Fr. Robert Barron has well noted that the Bible is not a book, it is a library. Contained within its pages are works of history, poetry, prayer, prose, theology, liturgical instructions, cosmology, philosophy, parables, moral tales, genealogy and so forth. How exactly to read its pages and understand them is often a matter of understanding the genre.



The word Genre is from French, genre, meaning “kind” or “sort.” It also stems from Latin: genus and the Greek: genos, γένος). Genre is the term for any category of literature, as well as various other forms of art or culture e.g. music, based on a set of stylistic criteria.


Now some one may ask you, “Do you read the Bible literally?.” Fr. Barron points out, that’s like someone asking you, “Do you interpret the library literally?” Of course you would say, it depends on what section I’m in. If I’m in the science or history section I may read the book there literally. But if I am in the poetry or novel section, or in the children’s storybook section, I would not likely read the books there literally. I would understand that they are using stories and images to make a point, but not like science or history does.


So we know how to exercise some sophistication when it comes to the library. But many loose this sophistication when it comes to the Bible. Often we can fail to distinguish literary forms and thus force a book or passage to be what it is not.

The good Monsignor then goes on to examine the two accounts of creation in Genesis from this perspective:

The Book of Genesis, especially the early chapters suffer a lot of this sort of failure to appreciate the literary forms. Many want the creation stories to be science or exact history when in fact they are more poetic and theological, than scientific. They advance the real and true point that God alone created everything there is out of nothing and did so in an intentional and systematic way in which he is involved at every stage. This is the sacred and theological truth set forth by the Genesis accounts.



But this does not mean the text proposes to be in the form of a science textbook. Take, for example, the accounting of the “days” of creation. Although light is created on the first day, the Sun and moon are not created until the fourth day. So what does it mean to speak of a “day” when the very sun by which we measure a day is not even existence for the first three “days?” Further, the notion of light apart from the Sun, is somewhat an abstract concept.


If some one asks me if I read the account of creation literally I ask them, “Which one?” This usually leads to a puzzled look. But but the fact is that Genesis sets forth two accounts of creation that are very different.

1. In the first account (Gen 1:1-2:4) we see a period of seven days which begins with the creation of light, then the sky and the ocean, then vegetation, then the sun and the moon, then, fishes and birds, then the animals and finally Adam and Eve.


2. The second account of creation (Gen 2:4-25) does not mention days or a time frame. It begins with the creation of Adam, then the planting of a garden, then the animals, then the creation of Eve.

Hence, we have two very distinct versions of the creation. In no way can they be harmonized yet, neither are they in absolute conflict. They both describe the same event from a different angle and with a different focus on detail. Neither account alone contains all the details. But, together they contain all God wants us to know about the creation of the cosmos. If asked to describe my recent visit to the Holy Land I could start at the beginning and give a day by day account. Or I could choose to start at the end or culmination and work backward. Or, I could just give highlights. Or I could sort out the trip along themes such as Old Testament sites and New Testament sites etc. I might also select the data for a given audience and present different aspects to different audiences. And so, the options are quite many. Now all of what I say is true, but it is selective and thematic based on the audience and my purpose.


So here again, a little sophistication is required in dealing with the accounts of creation. If we have a literalistic and wooden notion of history we can err by trying to make Genesis what it is not. It does not conform to the modern genre of historical writing which tends to be strictly chronological and comprehensive. These Genesis accounts are quite willing to speak to us poetically and selectively of creation and even to reverse the timeline. This is because their purpose is not to give us a blow by blow account of exactly how God did everything. Exact times and dates are not the point. God as purposeful sole and sovereign creator is the point. God who is present and active at every stage is the point. The dignity of the Human person are also the point. The first account accomplishes this by making man the culmination of the creation story. The second account makes this point by beginning with man and having every formed around him and for him.


The catechism of the Catholic Church says of these accounts:

Among all the Scriptural texts about creation, the first three chapters of Genesis occupy a unique place. From a literary standpoint these texts may have had diverse sources. The inspired authors have placed them at the beginning of Scripture to express in their solemn language the truths of creation – its origin and its end in God, its order and goodness, the vocation of man, and finally the drama of sin and the hope of salvation. Read in the light of Christ, within the unity of Sacred Scripture and in the living Tradition of the Church, these texts remain the principal source for catechesis on the mysteries of the “beginning”: creation, fall, and promise of salvation. (CCC # 289)

You will need to read the article in full if you have not, because there is a very interesting twist towards the end about how Cain and Abel had kids if they were the only biblically reported children of Adam and Eve.

But, it all makes for an interesting take on our Protestant brothers and sisters.  Many, not all take the creation story literally, 7 days and done, even though there are conflicting versions in the bible. 

That brings me to the second instance of cognitive dissonance I have in mind.  If you take Genesis literally, why not what follows here?

However, when Jesus was about to die and had a meal with his 12 followers (and only them) the night before he died, our Protestant brothers and sisters believe that what He said was not to be taken literally.  Jesus said: "This IS my body."  The aramaic word for "is" was used very specifically in the writing, and cannot be interpreted as "just kidding" or "woulda, coulda, maybe".  It means very specifically "IS". Nothing else.  Nothing less.  This was Jesus, Our Saviour, preparing to meet a most awful death the next day.  He knew it was coming, and he specifically arranged to have a dinner with his closest followers. 

Put yourself in his shoes.  You are going to die tomorrow.  These followers of yours are going to have to carry on your work.  So, what do you say to them?  Tell them a few jokes to lighten the mood? - not.  How about you give them a little allegory to remember you by? - not.   Later Jesus wept tears of blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Do you think he was taking this lightly?  No, he gave them HIMSELF that night, as only He could do and did.

He joined them to His Mystical Body, with His own Body and Blood, in the form of bread and wine.  Yes, we are to always do this in memory of Him, to remember what He did for us the very next day; He died in our place for our sins.

How dare any of us blithely and ignorantly take the creation story literally and then denounce the story of the creation of the Eucharist as an allegory or JUST a memorial?

My head may be about to explode but not from cognitive dissonance, but from the displays of cognitive ignorance it takes to take Genesis literally and institution of the Eucharist figuratively.

Hiding from Our Convictions

I am a Canadian, and I am proud of my Canadian heritage.  However, I have spent much time in my life in America.  My children are American citizens, Canadian as well, and are direct lineal descendants of one of the passengers on the Mayflower.  As a child, I was raised on Canadian and American history, and of course, the American history was more exciting, as was the American fiction, or at least it was presented as being more exciting.

A number of years ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to become snowbirds, northerners who head to the south of the US (or elsewhere warm) for the winter.  Though we have had occasion to travel to Florida, Texas, and California, we have settled in Southern Arizona and have a "candominium" in an over 55 RV resort there.  A candomium is a humorous epithet for a park model trailer, and these abound in most over 55 RV resorts throughout North America.

Living here for a significant part of each year, I have had the chance to study the people, their attitudes and history, as well as their founding documents, and their understanding of them.  Reading the documents upon which this nation (America) was founded is an inspiration, from the Declaration of Independence to the Constitution and its Amendments.

Accordingly, watching how the Executive Branch, the Legislative Branch, and the Judicial Branch of the government have largely destroyed the intent of the founding fathers particularly in the last 50 years though is particularly disturbing.  Needless to say, seeing how our Canadian politicians abuse our rights and freedoms is also extremely tortuous.

In both of our once great nations of North America, we have moved from standing on the bedrock of our faith in Jesus Christ to sliding around on the sands of political correctness, where what we once knew to be sin has been glorified, tolerated and in fact, encouraged.

For fear of offending others, we have put down the biblical principles of our faith in Jesus Christ, and taken up this mantle of tolerance for our own sins and the sins of others.  Where the Bible tells us to lovingly reprove our brothers and sisters in grave sin, not by judging them, but by confronting them for their own salvation, we instead, have stood idly by, while pornography, abortion, contraception, adultery, and homosexuality have run rampant in our society.

I say this not to judge, since I had a lengthy period of grave sexual sin in my life, and am easily tempted by the rampant, and continually growing list of books, television shows, movies, both mainstream and pornographic, web sites, and other media, to sexual sin.  I know that the proliferation of things alluding to or directly supporting sexual sin in our society create for me the "near occasion of sin", and believe that it is not me alone that faces these temptations.

If we tell someone who is living with her boyfriend, or his girlfriend in a sexual relationship, or is living a homosexual lifestyle, that they are in a state of grave sin, then we are considered haters and intolerant.  The same is true if we confront a man or woman, who is having an extramarital affair.

During the period of my life, when I was in grave sexual sin, not one of my Christian friends confronted me.  All were tolerant and "understanding" of my personal sadness at the time over the general situation of my life, and ignored what else was going on, even though it was pretty obvious.  For my part, I was in a period of emotional turmoil, but I was medicating my emotional distress with sexual license.  A couple of people did talk about me behind my back, and as word of what they said about me filtered its way to me, it was so distorted as to qualify as gossip, and not be corrective nor instructive.

In America, people trumpet the First Amendment to the Constitution as a license to say what they want, and by extension, do what they want, except when they hoist up the Second Amendment, so they can carry a gun, in case someone doing what they want appears, or might appear, physically harmful to them.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America reads as follows:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

That Amendment has been used by pornographers to justify selling smut everywhere, or displaying it on the internet for all to see.  And we, the people, including those of us who are not citizens, have stood silently by.  By the way, in Canada it is the same.

But, interestingly, and more importantly, religious people, who have strong convictions against funding contraception, which is really a form of abortion in many cases, and directly against funding abortion, are having to fight against the government of the day and the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate, requiring virtually all employers to provide these facilities in their health care plans.

Corporations like Hobby Lobby are in a fight for their lives literally.  The owners, and principals of dissenting and litigating businesses and institutions are fighting to have the right to have conscience objections to providing these things in their health care plans, while wanting to provide real health care to their employees and members.

So, the government that the people of America have selected to govern their affairs is forcing an ideology of sexual freedom (the apparent right of anyone to have sexual relations with anyone they choose at any time, regardless of sex, religion or race) upon the people of America, with nary a whimper from most, and from rampant bloviating by those who claim that Hobby Lobby and their ilk are mere troglodytes from a dark, evil age that has passed out of fashion.

In Canada, the provision of contraception entered into health care plans, including those of private school boards, and religious institutions, also with nary a whimper, and our Catholic bishops stood by, even fanning the flames of this travesty by issuing the Winnipeg Statement in 1968, after Pope Paul VI had released the seminal, and tragically prophetic encyclical letter Humanae Vitae. In the Winnipeg Statement, our Canadian Catholic bishops basically stated that Humanae Vitae was too harsh, but not in so many words, and told Catholic Canadians to follow their consciences, without providing them with the proper guidance to help them do so, in accord with Catholic teaching.

And, in Canada, we have no laws whatsoever governing abortion.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zero.  Not only that, but our national health care system pays for them, as just one more necessary health care procedure.

In Canada, we have the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and like the First Amendment to the US Constitution, section two of that charter grants certain rights as follows:

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association.

What is shocking and most frustrating is how the freedom of religion has been scourged in both countries by courts and pseudo courts such as human rights commissions, who, in the interests of political correctness have eroded these rights and supplanted them with artificial rights of individuals to not feel judged, or hurt, or discriminated against.

So, in both our countries, where certain Christians in keeping to their principles, have either refused to perform a marriage ceremony for a homosexual couple, or to photograph such an event, or  to provide flowers or a cake for such a ceremony, they have been taken to task by the preservers of political correctness.  Apparently, if you have a Bed and Breakfast in your home, you cannot exclude a homosexual couple from renting your room either.

What is also shocking is that there seems to be no practical instances of heterosexual couples who are not married being denied accommodation.  It may be easier to draw the conclusions that two people of the same sex are a couple, and therefor assumed to be homosexual, whether that is in fact true or not.  However, since lots of married couples have different last names, and many marrieds do not wear wedding bands, knowing that a couple entering your hotel or B&B are in fact not married would require asking a question of them to confirm their marriage status, and that seems, well, out of the question.

To use discrimination in its non pejorative meaning as merely to differentiate between two things, why would a resort, hotel or other place of accommodation not refuse a room to all couples that are unmarried, in the biblical sense of that word?

Christians have found it all too easy to not really stand on all the principles of our faith. 

Last evening, I watched a movie where a man was forced to figure out if what he believed in was important enough to take a stand on.  The principle of the movie was based on the loss of Christmas in our society, which is rapidly being replaced with "winter holiday", but the issues he faced, including the difficulties of taking a stand are similar.  What was most clear to me was that the right of Christians to express their faith in public has been being eroded for a long time, and we have generally stood by and watched it happen.

I have linked the video below if you wish to see it.  I believe that it is worth your time.

So, I have a closing question, and my question is this.  Have we lost the courage of our convictions, or have we lost our convictions? 
 

True Life in God - What Would You Do If God Wrote You Love Messages?

If You Are Anything Like Me - Probably Nothing For a Long Time

Many years ago, I heard about a woman by the name of Vassula Ryden.  She was alleged to have received messages from God, mainly in the Person and Presence of Jesus Christ, love messages.  At the time, it was becoming available piece by piece in books that were apparently written by Vassula's hand but in Jesus handwriting.

Somewhere along the line, one friend or another gave us one of the books or another and I could not get in to them.  Then a couple of years ago, Father Sam Johnston gave MDW one of them to read.  However, it was Volume number 12 of what was now a 13 volume series.  She was unable to get in to it, and nor could I, but if Father Sam was high on it, there was something there.  50 years as a priest, in love with Jesus, must have taught him something.

Last Fall, Patrick Duffy, a precious brother in the Lord, joined Deacon George Sebok and me in our morning prayer, and he mentioned the book True Life in God, which was the total compilation of all the messages to us, MORE THAN ONCE.

Now, there are lots of great Christian reading materials out there.  I have read my fair share, and so I was not over the moon, but Patrick highly recommended getting a bound copy of the entire message set, and both George and I did.

Then, MDW and I left for Tucson for the winter, and I took my book along.  In bound format it is about 1,100 pages.  (In PDF format which is available here for free, it is about 1,550 pages, though the words are identical.)

I read some of it while in Tucson, and it slowly started to grow on me.  On one level, it is the story of the conversion of Vassula, under the tutelage of Jesus Christ personally.  Watching how she grows in faith in Jesus day by day, while slowly growing out of her doubts about Him and Him and her, is significant enough to warrant reading the book.  But, it is much more than that.  On a deeper level, if I follow what Jesus says to do with the book early on, and replace Vassula's name with my own, it is a story of my own continuing conversion to Him and to His Life in me.  And something is happening to me.  Some of the habitual sin in my life is falling away.  My desire to pray to Him and to serve Him is growing, and my prayer for those I love is deepening, and if a book can touch my stubborn heart, it must be quite a book.

Though I have the bound copy, I downloaded the PDF file to my iPad in iBooks, and there I have it with me regularly so I can read a few pages.  It is not like a novel that you cannot put down, and it is not like a text book, that you must not put down for fear of failing the test.  Rather it is a book about Jesus' love for you and me, and it must be absorbed, bit by bit.

It does not replace the Bible in its importance.  Rather, Jesus explains so many things in the Bible and brings them to life for readers. It does not replace the continuity of inerrant Church teaching, but in fact, explains so much of it.

So, I am recommending to all who read these pages to download a copy of True Life in God for your iPad or laptop, or purchase a copy of it in hard bound.  You can find out how to get a hard bound copy here at True Life in God.

Should you feel called to read this work, give yourself the first 100 pages or so to let it transform your thinking about a book.  Do not give up easily, but persevere for a while.  Once it makes its way into your heart, then He will have a bigger place in your heart.

By the fruit of something we know what it is.  The fruit of this book has been ongoing conversion for those who have read it with faith.

God Bless You All.

How Much?

This Much

Though this is a story enclosed in a homily, it is a very good parable about the love of God for you and for me. Jesus used parables often to explain His Love for us, and so it is a very effective method for helping us to visualize that love that we cannot easily understand or convey.

There once was a man named George Thomas, a pastor in a small New England town. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit. Several eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak.

"I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy coming toward me, swinging this bird cage. On the bottom of the cage were three little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright. I stopped the lad and asked, "What you got there son?"

"Just some old birds," came the reply.

"What are you gonna do with them?" I asked.

"Take 'em home and have fun with 'em. I'm gonna tease 'em and pull out their feathers to make 'em fight. I'm gonna have a real good time."

"But you'll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What will you do then?"

"Oh, I got some cats. They like birds. I'll take 'em to them."

The pastor was silent for a moment. "How much do you want for those birds, son?"

"Huh??!!! Why, you don't want them birds, mister. They're just plain old field birds. They don't sing - they ain't even pretty!"

"How much?"

The boy sized up the pastor as if he were crazy and said, "$10?"

The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. He placed it in the boy's hand. In a flash, the boy was gone.

The pastor picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end of the alley where there was a tree and a grassy spot. Setting the cage down, he opened the door, and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds out, setting them free.

Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and then the pastor began to tell this story.

One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting.

"Yes, sir, I just caught the world full of people down there. Set me a trap, used bait I knew they couldn't resist. Got 'em all!"

"What are you going to do with them?" Jesus asked.

"Oh, I'm gonna have fun! I'm gonna teach them how to marry and divorce each other. How to hate and abuse each other. How to drink and smoke and curse. How to invent guns and bombs and kill each other. I'm really gonna have fun!"

"And what will you do when you get done with them?", Jesus asked.

"Oh, I'll kill 'em."

"How much do you want for them?"

"Oh, you don't want those people. They ain't no good. Why, you take them and they'll just hate you. They'll spit on you, curse you and kill you!! You don't want those people!!"

"How much?"

Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, "All your tears, and all your blood." Jesus paid the price!

The pastor picked up the cage, he opened the door, and he walked from the pulpit.

This story came from God Vine, and you can subscribe to received daily videos of interest to Christians and a daily reflection.

Does God Exist?

Some find it hard to believe in a God they cannot see.  In this world we inhabit, we have come to such an intellectual place that if it is not within our own imaginings, or cannot be seen, touched, felt, tasted, or smelled it does not exist. 

Some would even tell you that "I am God, the master of my destiny."  That is a load of mallarkey, though other descriptive words more readily come to mind.

So, the world was created by this Big Bang, right?  And then out of the nothingness that existed before this Big Bang, stuff started to happen randomly, right?   And voila!! We have the world we live in as it is now.   Believing that takes a lot of faith.

But the God who actually created this world, and everything in it speaks quietly, often in silence, where his creation speaks for him.

When you look at the video linked below called "The Life of Flowers", and see the array of colour and majesty in just a few of the flowers of our universe, as they open up to show their beauty to the world, can you really put that all down to a Big Bang?

I will put My God up against your Big Bang any day of the week?

Go to this URL and see "The Life of Flowers"
http://vimeo.com/vorobyoff/flowers

Who is the Prisoner Here?

Father Gordon MacRae/You/Me

A prisoner is defined as:

1.  A person legally committed to prison as a punishment for crimes committed or while awaiting trial.
2.  A person captured and kept confined by an enemy, opponent, or criminal.

Father Gordon MacRae has been legally committed to a prison (though legally is more of a pejorative word in this context) for crimes that don't appear to have ever been committed, though the complainants are more likely to have actually committed crimes.  None the less, he has spent over 17 years in prison of a sentence of 67 years.  At this raste, in 50 years he will once again face freedom from incarceration, since his "Get out of Jail Card" would be to admit that he did in fact commit the crimes for which he was convicted, even though there is no evidence that they were ever committed.  As a man of God, committed to the vows he made with his ordination, something his Bishop might want to live out as well, he cannot lie to gain his physical freedom.

As his blog These Stone Walls attests, the Poem, "To Althea, from Prison" by Richard Lovelace, an English poet, cavalier of the 17th century, who experienced prison himself rings true, especially in its final stanza.

Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage;
Minds innocent and quiet take
That for an hermitage;
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone that soar above
Enjoy such liberty.

While in prison, Father Gordon has been free to speak truth to lies, love to hatred, and kindness to prejudice.  He has taken his imprisonment, as horrid and wrong as it has been to be a blessing, and one that he can share with others.

In prison, he has shared his faith, in the midst of trials with those around him, living it daily, and not faltering.  As a result, some have wanted to share in the peace he lives in prison, and have become lovers of the one Who loved them first.

But, some time back, he embarked on These Stone Walls, and has shared with those of us who have come in contact with this blog, what living a life of faith means in trying times.

He is maintaining a ministry in prison and outside with his written word and witness of faith.  Would he be more free if he was not incarcerated, and would the good he has done for those in prison, and others falsely accused had he not been wrongfully imprisoned?

But, the main question I have to ask is: Are you and I as free as he is, even though we are are on the outside, as it were?

A number of years ago, I had a vision that has come more clear to me with the passage of time.  In the vision, I was in a one room prison.  There were barred windows on all four sides, and I could see beautiful green fields, and hills, with mountains in the background.  A short ways off, I saw my wife, and our parish priest beckoning me to come and join them in the fields.  How could I do that?  I was in a prison.  In a flash, the walls and bars and roof disappeared and I stood where I had been, but now there was nothing between me and them.

I was terrified.  I had only known the prison of my own making that I lived in, and so to have this immense freedom was traumatic to me, at the time.

Over the ensuing years, I have come to embrace to a certain extent the freedom I have, to live life more fully, to reach out to the God who loves me, and to become more authentically who I have been created to be.  But, only to a certain extent.  I find that I am still caught up in prejudices and fears from time to time.

Recently, we spent considerable time with a friend, and observed how this friend operated for several days.  Though lip service was paid to the desires and needs of others, this friend worked hard during our time together to get personal wishes met, through various manipulative techniques.  At the end of the time we spent together, we knew nothing more of our friend than we had on first arrival.  Walls protected our friend from being penetrated, and therefor truly known.

I can observe this not as a judgement of our friend, but because I have my own tricks for doing the same things myself often.  So, it is not a judgement that I make, but an observation that I am very well qualified to make, as one who has and probably will in the future do many of the same things.  It is in fact a grace given us to look not at our friend, but at ourselves.

Again, I ask, who among us is really free?

A RAM IN THE THICKET: The Prisoner-Priest Behind These Stone Walls

Ryan MacDonald on Father Gordon MacRae

For those of you who have not followed any of my previous commentaries on priests who have been bludgeoned by their bishops in the interests of being politically correct on the issue of sexual abuse of minors by priests, you have missed the real scandal that has gone on.  That scandal is the denial of the human rights we all take for granted in our North American Society, one of which is the right to a fair trial, and to justice in our court system.

A not insignificant number of Catholic clergy committed grievous sexual sins against youth.  Surprisingly, the statistics of how much of this went on, and the proportion of priests involved almost mirrors the instance of sexual abuse in the rest of society.  The suprise is two fold.  First, that men who were and who have chosen to take on the mantle of alter christus engaged in such sinful behaviour is more shock than surprise, but surprising none the less, and ample evidence that the devil is active in our society and works hard to corrupt those whose corruption will support his agenda of destruction of God's beloved.  The second surprise is that society has taken to believing, against real evidence, not just media reports, that the sexual abuse scandal was a priest and celibacy problem, and not a broader society one.  Now, as we see reports surfacing, if you dig hard enough, that scout masters and teachers committed more than their fair share of abuse of the young entrusted to their care, it is no longer a driving issue, evidence once again that the devil had his filthy hand in not only the sins perpetrated against youth by Catholic clergy, but in the blowing up of the statistics and reportage that made perceptions overcome the reality.

Even worse, in my personal opinion, is the abandonment of the priests in their care by their Bishops, where such things as the Dallas Charter, which was meant to appease those who had been abused, or at least those who reported on those who had been abused, or litigated on their behalf, came into being, denying priests accused of due process, and a presumption of innocence. 

In the midst of this all stands Father Gordon MacRae, a priest that I have no doubt was railroaded with false accusations first by those who claimed he abused them, and worst of all by his father in the Church, his Bishop, who denied him proper counsel, and abandoned him to a court system that was not interested in his possible innocence, but bent on sending some kind of message to somebody about something, all of which gets lost when justice is denied.

Ryan MacDonald has written much and often about Father Gordon, and his article linked below is worthy of your time reading it and digesting its content.  You will find other links down and to the left of this article on my blog page, about 25 others to be more precise, about Father Gordon.

Father Gordon MacRae is a hero of the Catholic Faith.  Midst persecution and abandonment by those whose duty it is to love him unconditionally, and support him in his need, he has remained a beacon of Christ's teaching to love one another.  His witness from prison is stronger than the witness of any alleged "free man" that I know. 

A RAM IN THE THICKET: The Prisoner-Priest Behind These Stone Walls: By Ryan A. MacDonald A wrongly convicted priest fights back from his prison cell, and teaches a lesson in fidelity and Catholi...

New Mass Translation

The Process and The Intent

A short video prepared for Life Teen explaining the process and reasons for the changes in the Roman Missal.

Intellect versus Wisdom

In recent years I have followed the goings on over at Father Tim Moyle's blog, Where the Rubber Hits the Road.  There have been a number of commenters, almost to the one thoughtful people, who have something to say either supporting an item linked on Father Tim's site, or raising a criticism of something read.

One of the most frequent and verbal of the commenters is a man named Martin, s former classmate of Father Tim's at the St. Peter's Seminary in London, Ontario, who one would therefor expect to be Catholic in his beliefs and comments.  Such is not the case, and Martin, well versed in the words of scripture always seems to have an axe to grind.  He is frankly better versed than yours truly, and generally raises interesting arguments.

A while back, he felt that verses in the bible about Jesus commenting on the end times proved that Jesus could not be God, since he apparently erred in Martin's humble opinion.  We went back and forth for some time, and I thought he made good points, though I felt they were erroneous.  One thing that was never mentioned is that the books of the Bible were not produced in the time of Jesus, but 30 years later or so, which gives one pause.  Jesus did not stand beside Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, and say: "Take this down.  This is good."  They also had the benefit of about 30 years of seeing how what they understood Jesus to have said played out, if it did.

But, the bigger issue for me is one I took umbrage with Martin on.  I believe that he possesses a great deal of intelligence, or intellect, but is lacking in wisdom.

Being an atheist in our times is a very difficult task, and requires one to undertake machinations to prove the unprovable, which of course, is what atheists say about Christians.  But, beyond the words of the Bible, there are instances, and many of them protracted, where the Blessed Virgin Mary is appearing to people around the world, and communicating with them in no uncertain terms.  As well, Jesus has appeared to many as well, and has shared His Heart with them.

Christians and non believers, are not required to believe in these things, but prudence requires us to at least examine them for their veracity.  The appearances of Mary at places like Garabandal in Spain, Fatima in Portugal, have borne much fruit, as people have been drawn into a greater commitment to life in Christ.

One of the most interesting recent phenomena is the communications purported to be between Jesus himself, and Vassula Ryden, which took place over more than 15 years, and have been published, with a letter from a Catholic Bishop indicating that reading and meditating on this book is spiritually beneficial to all, and in no way contravenes Catholic Church teaching.  The book also contains dialogue between Vassula and the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, where questions were asked and satisfactory answers provided.

But, this particular book, True Life in God, at page 419 had an insight into what I thought was going on between Martin and the things he rails against.  It differentiates between Wisdom and Intellect.

Vassula asks the Lord: "Give us the Wisdom then to imitate You."

Jesus responded in kind: "Wisdom is given to mere children; unless they seek Me in simplicity of heart, Wisdom shall not be given to them and as long as their intellect is at work, Wisdom will remain hidden and as a riddle to them."

She then prays as follows:"Tear away, Lord, their intellect so that they may at last see with their eyes Your Beauty and Your Splendour!"

Jesus says: "little heart, pray for them then; pray in these godless times; let your prayers be like blended incense;"

"pray that I may give them back their sight; pray that I may go over to them and wake them up from their everlasting sleep; pray, My little one, you who had the Law brought to you by Me; and directed by My Holy Spirit, pray that they die to their sin and resurrect to Holiness, Love and Faith; and if there are any wise men, let them show their wisdom by their simplicity of heart towards Me, their zeal to all that is holy, and by their ardour to draw souls to Me; may all these things be done with humility and love; remember that if you do not get what you ask it is because you do not pray hard enough and with your heart;"

You can improve your intellect by studying, reading, even watching certain things, but you cannot get Wisdom that way.  Wisdom cannot be chased.  Wisdom comes from submission, even a tiny bit of submission.  Wisdom, once it starts to have its way with us can grow and blossom.

When our intellect is allowed to be in the driver's seat, we limit what we can understand and what we can accomplish.  We claim certain things to be factual, where they are only opinions, and incomplete understandings.  Wisdom has no such bounds, because it is not from us, and not about us.

Intellect is about what we know, what we have seen, what we have interpreted.  As such it is very limited; yet we rely on it to guide us.

We cannot bring another to Wisdom, but we can pray for that person to be visited by Wisdom, and if we are to pray and seek an answer to our prayer, then the admonition of Jesus to pray hard enough and with our hearts is essential.

Many have wandered away from the faith we profess; many of whom once made the same professions.  They have been deluded by intellect, not Wisdom, and that matters.  Pray that all those who have wandered far from home, would be visited by Wisdom, and would receive it so that they may turn their hearts towards home.

Merry Christmas I Mean MERRY CHRISTMAS

Not Happy Holidays, Though I Hope They Will Be

We will be celebrating Christmas this year on December 25. Same date as last year. Same date as next year. Same date people around the world have been celebrating it for generations, come to think of it.



I was going to let go after my little rant last year, complete with musical accompaniment here.  But, then I got to watching the news on our local television station here in London, Ontario.  And frankly, I got mildly bothered.  You can substitute another word or two if you want, maybe one that is less . . . well . . . mild.

A  lot of companies that we have never really heard of, take it upon themselves to issue a commercial greeting during the news this time of year.  I lost count of how many lawyers, accountants, purveyors of things we need and other stuff did their thing but it was several.  Of that several, more than half wished me and My Dear Wife in the next chair a Happy Holiday.  Too bad I can't remember who they were, since it was coming so hot and heavy.  I would gladly communicate to them where I think they should put their Happy Holiday.  Think lack of sunshine.

The brave ones who remembered that we would be celebrating Christmas were somewhat outnumbered, but not overcome.  In fact, in most instances they had a gaggle of employees, students or friends with them to make sure that we knew they communally were wishing us a Merry Christmas.

As I said I would have let it go.  But, a friend from Petrolia, who lives near us in our winter home in Tucson, Norm Sutherland, sent out the following in an email, which he invited us to share with others.  It is cute.  It is relevant, and it is poignant.

And so, I am sharing it with you in this forum, my blog.  Should any of you want the original email, so that you can send it to your friends, relatives, mortal enemies (to whom you wish glad tidings) leave me a comment with your email address, and I will forward the original to you. 

We will be making a conscious effort to wish everyone

a Merry Christmas this year ...

My way of saying that we are celebrating

the birth Of Jesus Christ.

So, we are asking readers,

if you agree with us,

to please do the same.

And if you'll pass this on to

your friends, and so on...

maybe we can prevent one more Canadian/American

tradition from being lost in the sea of

"Political Correctness".

To One and All ! ! ! ! !

Discourse on Jesus Return - Civil or Not?

Recently, a discussion broke out at Father Tim Moyle's Blog "Where the Rubber Hits the Road" over what appeared to be a humorous and innocuous posting he made linking to Harold Camping's revised prediction of the Rapture coming on October 21, 2011.
If you are reading this, then you know that the Rapture, if there is ever really going to be one, did not occur as promised by Mr. Camping.  This was not his first prediction of the end, but was as accurate as his previous ones.

But, of greater interest was the ensuing comment thread, largely involving myself, and another Catholic Christian named Paul, pitted in a contestuous battle of wits, our 2 halves against Martin's nit.

The discussion I felt was worthy of being brought out more into the open, because Martin, who was educated here in London, Ontario at St. Peter's Seminary has taken the knowledge he received and has built upon,  and has wandered over to the dark side (no offence meant Martin).

We have ultimately agreed to disagree.  At least we do disagree, and have drawn no closer to agreement.  Ignore the testiness that crept into the comments, particularly my own.

The actual frolicking began when Paul reerenced the bible stating that we know not the time nor the place of Jesus' return, in reference to Mr. Camping fixating on a particular date and time.  Martin is categorically an SD (you know disturber of excrement), and so he dutifully stirred the pot.

He raised the ante, by referencing Luke 21:32, "In truth, I tell you before this generation has passed away all will have taken place."  Specifically, he said:

Jesus clearly tells his audience that the world will end in their own lifetimes. Not only was Jesus wrong, but his words contradict your citation. No matter how you try to square that circle, the world cannot be both ended in the lifetime of the apostles and still in existence and facing an immanent destruction in 2011.

There was more and you can read it in the comments, but that was a pretty pivotal point, and remained the main topic of the comments.
Frankly, it seemed such a walk in the park to refute what Martin had said, that I started out lazily, and never really got past it, try though I might.
What, of course, was missed in the discussion, was when the text of Luke and the parallel texts of Matthew 24, and Mark 13 were actually written.  Since Luke was not probably written until about the 60s AD, use of the term generation becomes even more of a challenge.  So, I looked up this commentary from Bible Gateway.com and quote from there:

Jesus assures the disciples that these signs will be so. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." The things Jesus has taught are true, more firm than creation itself.

In the midst of this note of assurance is one of the most-discussed passages in Luke. For Jesus also says, "This generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." The prediction is made emphatically, using the strong Greek phrase ou me. This generation will not (!) pass away.

On the surface it looks as if Jesus is predicting the end within his generation, especially since Luke normally uses the term generation (genea) to mean the current generation (7:31; 9:41; 11:29-32, 51; 17:25; Acts 2:40; 8:33). Often the term also has a negative implication, meaning this current generation is evil. Against applying this interpretation to 21:32, however, is the reality of the delay. The generation of Jesus' utterance was passing away even as Luke wrote, and Luke had described numerous intervening events. Jesus had spoken in the thirties, but Luke was writing, in all likelihood, in the sixties. A reference to the current generation is unlikely.

Neither is it likely that Luke refers to the Jews as this generation. According to this view, the promise is that "the generation of Jews" will not pass away. Though this approach removes any problem for the meaning, it is unlikely because genea is not used in this general, nontemporal, ethnic sense elsewhere.

Two other options are possible. If the term has no temporal force, then it could mean "the evil generation of humankind." Using the term with this descriptive, ethical force would mean Jesus is speaking of a quality of human being: evil persons will not escape the judgment when it comes. This evil generation will not pass away before God deals with them. There will be judgment and vindication.

Finally, the term might refer to the generation of the end. In other words, once the beginning of the end arrives with the cosmic signs of verses 25-26, the Son of Man will return before that generation passes away. Such a meaning honors the term's temporal force and reads it as somewhat contextually limited by Luke's clear distinction between near and far events. This view has been rejected by some as too obvious a sense--the last generation will not pass away (Stein 1992:526). However, this misreads the view's force. It is arguing that the end will occur within one generation; the same group that sees the start of the end will see its end. This is the option I slightly prefer, though the previous sense is also possible.

However the phrase this generation is taken, Jesus' statements in verses 32-33 emphasize that Jerusalem's destruction and then the events of the end, including the Son of Man's return and the cosmic signs that accompany it, are more certain than creation's permanence. Be assured, Jesus says, these things will come to pass.

It was and may continue to be an interesting discussion.  But, what came to me in prayer was some thoughts on attitude.  Zig Ziglar, a well known Christian says this: “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude”.

Though I respect Martin's knowledge, my challenge is with his attitude towards the Bible, and Catholic teaching.  Jesus told us that we were to come to Him like little children.  Well, little children are curious, inquisitive, helpful, and trusting.  At least, they are that way until we, of the older generations, train it out of them.  We eventually train them not to trust, to be petulant, and argumentative.  They move from being child like, to being childish in their behaviours and attitudes, and that is how we enter adulthood.

I hope I am not misrepresenting concepts I believe I have read from him.  What I have understood from what I have read, is that he takes a critical approach to scripture, what I would characterize as a childish attitude, as opposed to an attitude of trusting inquiry and inquisitiveness.  This is not meant as a criticism of Martin, as when I look at some of the things I have written in response to him, I see the same petulance and childishness.  In fact, I doubt that the verbal jousting would have gone on as long as it did if I had presented a better attitude.

Be that as it may, mayhaps we will re-engage over this topic or others as time passes.

A Young Girl Confronts an Atheist

A Moral Inside Humour

A friend sent me this as a joke, but considering the source, I expected something more than just a laugh, and I was not disappointed.

See what you think:

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said,"Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had started to read her book, replied to the stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is no God, no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?" as he smiled smugly.

"OK," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but first let me ask you a question. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff--grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."

To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no God, no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death, when you don't know shit?" And then she went back to reading her book.

The Invisible Woman

A Friend sent me this video to watch,

and to be astounded with the simplicity of faith it calls us to, not self centredness, but other centredness, because God sees everything, and it is for Him that we are called to live.

The Anti-Catholic Moment

Robert Royal on what may be (in the reverse of Richard John Neuhaus) the Anti-Catholic Moment in contemporary history.

Over at The Catholic Thing, Robert Royal writes with reference to Father Richard John Neuhaus, a now deceased Roman Catholic priest (and friend of Father Tim Moyle from whence I came upon this article) and former Lutheran Pastor. Though Father Neuhaus wrote of a Catholic Moment, My Royal has noted anti-Catholic sentiment, much of it brought on by our own sinfulness in the Catholic Church, and what we can expect.

The Anti-Catholic Moment:

Eucharistic Miracles

Monsignor Charles Pope - Archdiocese of Washington

Monsignor Pope writes today over here of a Eucharistic Miracle he was a part of 15 years ago.  I had my own experience of a Eucharistic Miracle many years ago, that I wrote about last year here.

Some of us need these experiences to help us get the truth of the Eucharist into our hearts and out of our heads.  What a blessing for those who without these physical experiences have a faith deep enough to know that they know that they know without external evidence beyond the Eucharist itself.

The Holy Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith.  We in the Catholic Church believe that Christ becomes present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at the Consecration, when the priest performs that rite as Christ prescribed it before His death on the Cross at Calvary.

BUT, we are so often not giving faithful witness to this fact, and bear much responsibly for the ongoing separation of our Christian brothers and sisters from this miraculous appearance of Our Lord and Saviour.  When we do not show appropriate reverence to the Eucharist, how can we expect others to?  When we dress casually to attend Mass, and make it an occasion for seeing our friends, when we are in fact in the presence of our best friend and lover, how can we expect others to grasp that truth?

If we truly believe that Jesus Christ is present on the altar at each and every mass, and that He is residing in every tabernacle in every Catholic Church, should we not show Him respect?  Dare we create scandal for ourselves and our brothers and sisters by showing disrespect for the One who dies to save us and was resurrected again on the third day?

Forgive me Lord for the many, many times in my life that I have not shown reverence for who You are, and for what you have done for me.  Wash away my sins; cleanse me from my iniquity.

Embracing Feminity - A Man's Perspective

Becoming Worthy of Our Wives
Recently, a talented female Catholic writer, Mrs. Jennifer Hartline, relayed on her blog, My Chocolate Heart,  and at Catholic Online a conversation between her and her husband about the nature of feminine beauty, which was at once intriguing, and as well, thought provoking.

In it she presented this quote from Bishop Fulton Sheen, long since deceased, but still touching our Catholic faith lives:

"To a great extent the level of any civilization is the level of its womanhood. When a man loves a woman, he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women."

As a belatedly devoted husband, having previously failed miserably at marriage, and the father of three young adult women, what Mrs. Hartline wrote challenged me to examine my view of the women in my life, and to ponder what the appropriate response is from me as a man, husband and father.  I take full responsibility for all of my actions that have diminished the women who have touched my life, those which have been sinful, and those which has been merely inappropriate for the circumstance. But, without excusing my ignorance, there have been also societal influences that have helped me and other men to form the wrong impressions of what women require from us as men.

What we now see as traditional feminism, though it is a short but pervasive tradition, flies in the face of all that we men hold deep and dear in our hearts about the nature of a woman.  Feminism was, in essence, a response to generation upon generation of men failing to be the men we were created to be, particulary in our response to those women in our lives, our wives and daughters.  As such, it took on a radical tone and totally lost the complementarity of women and men, in favour of some kind of melding of women into trying to be better men than men are.

Father Benjamin Bradshaw has an interesting perspective on the feminine over at The Theology of the Body Institute in an article he recently wrote about The Unique Nature of the Feminine Soul according to St. Edith Stein and Blessed John Paul II. 

But, what does all of this mean to men practically, for if anything, we men do attempt to deal with things practically. 

That reminds me of what lives in my mind and that of My Dear Wife as the quintessential argument of our married life together.  One evening we were in the sitting area of our bedroom in a home we lived in many years ago.  My wife was "prattling on" (in my mind at the time) about her feelings about something or other.  As I sat across from her, not really hearing her, I interrupted her to share my wisdom with her and told her the following: "I need to deal in facts, not all this emotional B??? S???."  For emphasis I had turned my left hand over and was slapping the back of my palm into my other hand.  That pretty much brought an end to the discussion, and God has used the constant memory of that low point in my communication with My Dear Wife to heal me of the arrogance and lack of sensitivity to her over the years.

As men, we may participate in discussions with other men about the women in our lives, and how irrational they are.  Somehow we feel better to be able to share in this misery with others who are more like us.  Women, of course, are not immune from this, but this is not about them in that sense, but about us as men.

I have discovered this over many years, and by much grace from a God who loves and me and loves My Dear Wife more than we can possibly imagine, and wants to give us the desires of our hearts, and there is the rub.  The desire of my heart, though not one I could articulate, was to participate in an exclusive loving relationship with another person, in my case as a man, with a woman, to come to a spiritual, mental, emotional oneness, that both united us, and respected our individuality.

My Dear Wife has been challenged by autoimmune diseases for the last decade.  As such, rounds of medications, too many to count, where we are not sure which is worse, the disease or the cure, has left her looks different than they were.  But, in my eyes, she has grown more beautiful over the years, as I have witnessed her courage under fire, as she lives in constant pain, yet continues to love all who come her way.  God has given me immense grace to accept her as she is, to love her where she sits, and yet not to leave her there, but to pray for the best for her, and to encourage her daily in her walk of faith and life.

Somehow God gave me the grace to seek my own healing of those things that prevented me from seeing women, and in particular the one to whom I am married, through his eyes, the eyes of faith, rather than as something or someone less, particularly less than me.

When we men engage in sexual relations, even if only in our mind, with women who we are not married to, we diminish all women, even though the sex may be consensual.  When we allow our daughters to wear clothes that are not respectful of their bodies, as opposed to most current fashions that turn our attention away from eye contact to objectifying them, we perpetuate the degredation of our society that has made sex an end in itself, and has taken away from the sanctity of the marriage bed.  We are equally capable of disrespecting our wives in many ways, too many actually to count.

I have the amazing good fortune, (read that for what it actually is - amazing grace) to be married to my best friend in the whole world, to wake up beside her almost every day, and to share faith, love, and a delight in the simple things of life with her.  She sees most things of life so totally differently from me, that I essentially get to see things twice, through my eyes, and through her eyes.  I see flowers I never noticed before, and feel emotions I did not know even existed 10 years ago.

What is missing from our life that hampered our marriage, is the competition.  She is not trying to be a better man than I am.  I have no reason, and there would be no value in it either, to put down her viewpoints that do not correspond to mine.  As my equal in our journey of life, what she sees is of value, as what I see is of value.

But, this is all only possible, because God has opened my male eyes to see the particular beauty of a woman, in My Dear Wife; to live without relationship stress because we can accept each other as we are.  To reduce the day to day tensions of life with a smile, a tear, a kiss, a prayer, so they take on the perspective that they deserve, is an amazing blessing. 

Yet, it is also only possible if we men choose to love.  Women are by their nature responders.  They respond for example with their emotions to the various stimuli of life more than we do.  We men have been trained to take that for weakness, rather than for the strength that it is, particularly if nurtured and accepted by one who loves them unconditionally.

When I place My Dear Wife as number 1 for me in our relationship, I have found that I am a big winner.  She melts in a sense into the relationship, and all is well.

So, the face of radical feminism is a response to bad behaviour on the part of men for many generations, and though it contains some good, it is a distortion of the truth, as much as our behaviour was and continues to be.  To me, the best way to combat radical feminism is not to fight or rail against it, since that resistance gives it more power, and consumes energy better used for more meaningful purposes.

No, the best way to deal with the feminine is to embrace it as God has intended for us to do, by loving with no conditions, by being patient, kind, forgiving, seeking forgiveness.  Essentially, it is to live the words of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, where in Chapter 13, verses 4-8, he said:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

Marriage works when men choose to love radically, not for what is in it for us, but for what it is, an opportunity to see Jesus in the other, and to be Jesus for that other.

We men are called to a radical masculinism, not one that is self serving, but one that is other serving.  So let us men leave our egos at the door of our homes, not to ignore our egos, but to give them their proper due and place in us, and embrace all aspects of the one we have chosen to live out our lives with, and to form a family with.  Our patron in married life, St. Joseph is a wonderful model for us, of quiet fidelity, in the midst of trials, and he is worthy of our emulation.
Let us prove to the woman that we love that we are worthy of her, and that in seeking to be worthy of her and her love, that she is a pearl of great price.  Then we will see the level of women in our society rise so that we can once again be proud of the society in which we live.

Preserving Our Faith

Archishop Timothy Dolan

H/T Fr. Tim Moyle - Where the Rubber Hits the Road

I have immense respect for Archbishop Dolan. I have heard him on Catholic Radio on Sirius XM (channel 129), when he speaks every Thursday for an hour. I have read his blog postings, and have found several things about the man. He is totally committed to Jesus Christ. He is faithful to the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church. He is a strong voice teaching about the love of Jesus Christ, as found in holy writ, traditions and the teachings of the Catholic Church which come directly from scripture and tradition. If you want to see somone waver to fit the political mood of the day, move along. There is nothing to see here.

Here is his blog posting on the straight line teachings of the Church under a heading Preserving Our Faith. He is so clear, so very crystal clear, that there is no wiggle room in what he says. And no surprise here, it is totally consistent with Church teaching since Jesus left the Church in the hands of Peter and the Apostles.

Read what he has to say over here.

Jesus Christ Superstar

Thoughts on the 2011 Stratford Festival Presentation

As an anniversary present this year, I purchased two tickets for My Dear Wife and I to see Jesus Christ Superstar at the Avon Theater in Stratford, Ontario. Here are thoughts compiled over 40 years of loving the music created by Timothy Rice and Anthony Lloyd Webber.

Webber and Rice put out some fine musicals together, and also separately over the years. Jesus Christ Superstar was actually their third collaboration, the second being Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat after The Likes of Us, which was slow to see the light of day.
When I first heard the music in 1971, I fell in love with it, which was interesting as I had recently begun my self imposed exile from the Catholic Church, in what I refer to as my agnostic period. But, the music struck me and stayed with me. 40 years later, I knew every lyric of every song, and followed every musical nuance. This too is interesting, since 7 1/2 years ago, I incurred a brain injury that makes it difficult for me to recall what I had for lunch yesterday. I had owned the album, and the sheet music, which I had played on the piano for many years. As well, I saw the movie a number of times.

But, this time I saw it with different eyes. The production was fantastic, beautifully done, sung and acted.

However, I noticed the play's focus was on the humanity of Jesus, not His divinity.   This did not matter in the least to me 40 years ago, but provided opportunity this time.  I did not find this disturbing, as Jesus was and is both divine and human.    Some evangelicals had picketed 40 years ago, when the play first hit Broadway, but I think they missed the point.  Clearly the focus was His humanity. Additional focal points were the humanity of Mary Magdalene, and Judas Iscariot.

We see in the play, a Jesus who has some trepidation about his death. We Christians think of Jesus as God, and can easily forget that He was about to be killed in a most brutal way. On the way to "Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing," there is a great deal of anguish, and I think we lose sight of that. The play helped me to rethink the human aspect of Jesus' sacrifice for us, without diminishing His divine work to redeem us.  He did it in human form.

Mary Magdalene is portrayed as a woman, a former prostitute, who is confused by the love she has for Jesus. But then, why should this not be so? When she was loved by Jesus and turned from her life of sexual sin, would all those learned behaviors have just disappeared in a flash? I know that after Jesus touched me, all my learned sin responses and rebellious acts did not suddenly disappear. Yes, I am a new creation, but there is much of the old me yearning to get out, oft times successfully. So, Mary Magdalene seemed very real and human to me, confused about who Jesus really is.

Judas also came off as very human to me. He was afraid that Jesus was getting out of hand. Clearly, he could not get his head around the divinity of Jesus, and so he tried to bring him down to reality to protect his view of how Judaism needed to function in the Roman occupation. Judas was clearly most interested in protecting his own hide, a lot like I am often in my life.  We know historically that Judas was less interested in the poor and their needs, than in setting aside money for a rainy day for himself.

So, I could relate to Mary Magdalene, and Judas, and also to the betrayal by Peter, which is portrayed briefly. I would have been capable of playing any one of those roles in 33 AD, and can even play them today, thank you very much, and for the same reason as they did. Often times, I diminish the divinity of Jesus, and focus on His humanity, excusing my own behavior, when I am called to imitate His divinity.

I still love Jesus Christ Superstar, the musical, but even more so, I love Jesus Christ, my Lord and Saviour.

Once Saved Always Saved? - Salvation and Sports Ca...

Taylor Marshall

There are a number of Protestant beliefs that fly in the face of what the Catholic Church has taught, as handed down by Our Saviour Jesus Christ through the Apostles and those they have chosen to lead the Church after their demise. Once Saved, Always Saved is one such belief. It would be nice to know that I am saved and there is nothing I can do about it, but it flies in the face of all logic, and also in the face of Catholic teaching since the beginning of the Church.

If life is meant to be a journey, that takes us to the foot of the cross, then how we handle the journey really ought to matter.

As my wife heard today in a voice message from a physician she sees, "Our lives are God's gift to us. What we make of that gift is our gift back to God."

Canterbury Tales by Taylor Marshall: Once Saved Always Saved? - Salvation and Sports Ca...: "Most Protestant Evangelicals hold that a Christian is “once saved always saved,” by which they mean that once a person has committed his li..."

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone

(Father) John Corapi, you, and me

I was shocked to hear about the SOLT press release yesterday about (Father) John Corapi, and about the double life he has lived during his public ministry. That is, until I looked into the mirror and remembered the particular time in my life where I did the same.  That simply brings to mind the Gospel words: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone," words that Our Saviour said, and words we must live by.

(Father) John Corapi has an opportunity that I did not have in that period of my life. He has been publicly called to repentance and to return to his community.  When I was in serious sin nobody called me out. I was left to my own devices and fortunately for me God took matters into His own hands largely and pulled me out.

My darkest days looked bright to those around me.  I made really good money.  Though I lived well, I was not ostentatious with the money I had, but I did not spend much of it wisely.  I looked pretty good to much of the world I inhabited.  Most people did not see the shambles that I had made of the most important aspects of my life, my family, my faith.

Then God hit me in the back of the head with a Ford Windstar van.  What grace.  What mercy. That my God loves me so much that he would not let me stray far from Him.   One reason that God came to my aid, was that I had a praying mother, who prayed that God would hit me over the head with a baseball bat.  Maybe somebody else was praying too, and God upped it to a van.

(Father) John Corapi is a sinner. Breaking news. OK, so his sins might be different than some of yours or mine. But the pride with which any one of us puffs up our chest and claims our own innocence is as serious a sin as any he has committed.

He needs one thing from the Body of Christ. He needs our prayers.   The Canticle of Zechariah antiphon today in the Lauds (Morning Liturgy of the Hours) is "Let us serve the Lord in holiness all the days of our lives." May we do so ourselves, and may we in communion with all the saints pray that (Father) John Corapi returns to the holiness to which he was ordained by Blessed John Paul II in 1991.