Thinking of the Priests Who Touch My Life

This morning, as My Dear Wife and I were preparing to go and meet with Father John Pirt at our Parish of St, George, here in London, I was also reminded of other priests who have come into my thoughts lately.

Last week, Both MDW and I received a group email from our friend Father Jim Mockler.  It was only a note that his email address had changed, but was a small connection that resulted in us speaking of him for a few minutes, and remembering how he has touched our lives over the years.

I also received an email from Father Clement Agamba, the Ghanan priest who lives in Tucson, who was such a blessing to us and to the people of Our Lady of Fatima Parish when we were there.  He is now a blessing to the folks over at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish.  He told in his note of a friend who had passed away, and it was good to hear from him and that he is well.

In our morning prayers recently, Father Michael Prieur of St. Peter's Seminary came up in discussion, fondly of course, as all of us in attendance know him and love him.

Father Sam Johnston of Ridgetown, our retired priest friend, comes to mind often.  Though I have been unable to work on his blog for the past few weeks, his love of God and energy at 82 years of age is a blessing.

Of course, I am personally blessed to meet with Deacon George Sebok, a very dear friend most mornings, and share prayer time with him.

I have great admiration for these men, and for all the faithful priests and deacons who have touched our lives and continue to touch them.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in your love for these men I have mentioned and for all priests, deacons and religious, who have given their lives to love and serve you and to be a witness to us of the royal priesthood.

Sacred Heart of Jesus fill them and us with your blood.

Is The Eucharist That We Celebrate The Real Presence of Jesus Christ?

Conflicting Ideas

As a Roman Catholic, I believe that the Communion that we receive is the actual Presence of Jesus Christ in a most illogical form of His choosing, in the Eucharist that is consecrated and which we celebrate in the Mass.

If, in fact, one does believe that Christ is present in the Eucharist, then one must come to the Catholic Church, and not just come, but come running and leaping for joy that He is alive and present to us, and that He is real food for our souls, for our personal journey to the foot of the Cross.

I have researched the biblical basis of the Eucharist from the Catholic perspective.  In fact, for me as a Catholic Christian, it is conclusive.  However Father Tim Moyle, a Catholic priest in Mattawa Ontario, and graduate of St. Peter's Seminary here in London, Ontario, and I to a certain extent have been challenged about this and about the validity of Roman Catholicism as a religion by one of our Reformed brothers.  He is a student of scripture, believing that sola scriptura (basically if it ain't in scripture, it ain't - on matters of faith) sets the tone for our faith, and that tradition is of no value - quoting a particular scripture about tradition as his guide for that.  He is a retired Catholic, having found his faith outside the Church of his youth.

What he is is a blessing.  His knowledge of scripture challenges me, probably not Father Tim as much, to dig into commentaries and apologetics that I have available on my book shelves or find on the Internet.  In other words it is a healthy exercise. 

The Catholic Church is able to prove the Real Presence scripturally, and here is an example of a good commentary on it, that includes the nihil obstat and imprimatur from the Bishop of San Diego.

That does not satisfy our friend, as he comes back with his church's interpretation of those same verses, and is committed to believing what he has learned, as we are committed to what we have learned.

But, I realise that I do not have to convince him of the veracity of the Real Presence.  I only have to know in my heart that it is so.  So, I responded to some of the commentary with a personal revelation of this, a personal revelation that is not binding on any other person on the planet:

My faith in Jesus Christ as My Saviour and Lord is a heart felt belief, and His word is written on my heart, far better than I can absorb from the printed page. He has presented Himself to me in many ways over the years. There have been times that I have known He was present, that would be the tiniest part of the whole, and far too many when I did not.


But, He has appeared to me through miracles that have occurred in my life, including a miraculous healing from debilitating arthritis about 20 years ago.

But, one of the most amazing signs that I ever saw was a miraculous vision around the Eucharist and its consecration many years ago.

For a number of years, one of our diocesan priests was a close personal friend. He was the Director of Youth Ministry in its formative stages in our diocese, and lived within our parish boundary, not too far from my own home. He accompanied us on family vacations, and we enjoyed his fellowship. He said the mass with reverence for the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

On one particular Sunday, he was saying mass in our then parish (since closed - sad to say) of St. Joseph's. Behind him on the wall as he said mass, was a beautiful crucifix modeled after the very realistic one that Pope John Paul II used himself.

I had been contemplating whether I really thought that Christ was present in the Eucharist. I believed it in my head, but it had not yet taken up residence in my heart.

From where I was sitting in a particular pew, when he raised the Eucharist in the consecration, I had a most unusual vision. I saw the bread being consecrated dissolve into the corpus of Christ that was on the cross immediately behind him. I later asked if anyone else saw what I saw, and no one had, but from that moment on, my belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist moved from my head to my heart.

For me it is a matter of the heart, the same place in me where He resides, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

There is nothing more that I can add.

I believe it because I have seen it.  Happier still those who have not seen yet have believed.

Additionally, the Catholic Church does rely on tradition for guidance as to its beliefs, even though we can listen to our hearts.
When I have discussed scripture with Catholic priests of my acquaintance, they have been unanimous in describing the need to put sections of scripture into their proper context, where they were in society of the time, as well as from that what they might mean to us today, and further what verses and sections mean to us as an individual under the guidance of our Loving Creator at any particular time in our journey of faith.

That context is really important.  It is one thing for me in 2010 to read a section of scripture, and put my spin on it.  But, what did it mean to the people of Christ's time and those after Him who wrote the scriptures of the New Testament.

That is very telling.

What did the early Christians believe about this so called Real Presence of Christ in Eucharist?  Well, as I discovered at one particularly good site here was that until 500 AD, the writer could find no dissension from any credible source that the Eucharist was the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.  The writer's research is pretty extensive and I urge you to read it if you have personal doubts.

And finally, coming closer to home is there any other evidence of Christ actually being in the elements that are consecrated in the Mass?

Well, I have been aware for many years that there are approved miracles of the Eucharist that prove to the Church in physical form that He is there.  They are actually able to be found from the same site I referenced above at this page.

It makes for interesting reading, particularly if you suspend any personal thoughts and let the information be absorbed into your heart.  I invite you to follow the links above and decide for yourself what you believe.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in your love for all those who read this blog posting and its links.
Sacred Heart of Jesus, fill us all with Your Blood.

The Practical Catholic Church Today

As I have aged and grown in my faith, and particularly with the circumstances that My Dear Wife and I find ourselves in from a health perspective, I have had to sit back and observe things.  Where previously, I could see things happening, and jump in with my own brand of "helping" - really scurrying around trying to help, I have been relegated to the sidelines in a certain sense.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  Coaches stand on the sidelines and provide their wisdom to the players who are on the field, and maybe that is the stage of life we find ourselves in, or maybe it is just a brief phase.

Regardless of how we got here, where we are at provides us with an opportunity to slow down and observe more carefully what is happening, and maybe the experience of our over 60 years toiling on the earth might have some value.

The Catholic Church in our London Ontario diocese, and throughout North America at least is having to adapt to changing conditions, not just little things, but major changes.  Here in our diocese, there is the particular phenomenon of the shrinking priesthood.  This is not about why that is happening, but how we as practical Catholics are responding to it, and how we might be able to respond better.

In our parish of St. George, we have a new church that was built 10 years ago, which is a drastic improvement over the old building that preceded it.  Until this week, we have been blessed to have two priests on staff at the parish.  It is a large parish, and is also a pretty well to do parish.  The part of our city that the parish is located in is a growth area of London, what used to be the outlying town of Byron when I was a kid, and it was way out of town back then.  Now it is part of an explosion of new housing, and not starter homes.  The people in our parish are mostly prosperous in the view of the world. 

Our pastor, Father John Pirt is a good man, an excellent preacher, and one who brings the sacraments to us with reverence, and devotion.  That is truly a charism that he has.  Even though he has had an assistant in Fr, Francis Jeyaseelan, C. R., he has been busy - run off his feet might be a better description.  Suddenly, after this week we will find ourselves with only one parish priest, as Fr. Francis, and two young priests from the Congregation of the Rosarians in Sri Lanka, from whence Fr. Francis came himself, will be taking over the diocesan Marian Shrine in Merlin, Ontario, and forming a small community themselves to minister to all who come to the shrine.  Though this itself is a marvelous work of God, it leaves a void in our parish.

Where Father John was somewhat beleaguered before, I am concerned that he will move to a state of overwhelmed.

The parish model, at least in our diocese, is that the Parish Council, elected by the members of the Parish to serve the parish, actually serve at the behest of the parish priest.  The priest is in most of our parishes large and in charge.  This is a long standing model, but tends to break down now, with the diminishing number of priestly vocations.  Here in London, we have had parishes twinned so that one priest could look after two or more congregations, and have seen many parishes shuttered as well.

But, God is good and He always will be.  He will meet all of our needs through His riches and glory.

Recently, Father John has had to make some choices for the parish, in light of the changing situation.  As a result some noses are out of joint, with good reason, at least from their perspectives.  There will no doubt be frustrations and irritants going forward.

As I have said previously, a few of us gather in the morning to pray the Divine Office for each of us, our families, the world we inhabit and our parish.  As a couple of the recent decisions impacted two of our group, they brought their frustrations to prayer for a couple of mornings this past week.  One morning was just praying and venting.  But, by the second morning, I believe the Lord gave us the answer that we need for our day to day lives.

Father John is our pastor.  His position of authority in our parish comes from the Bishop, who derives his authority from the Pope, and ultimately from God.  Of course, if we don't like what he says or does, we are free to wander off to another parish, to a different denomination, or go and sulk in our own corners.  But, that is a self defeating approach.  It is better to address our own anxieties directly, and so we concluded the following:

We love our pastor, regardless of what decisions he feels he has to make.

Recognising that he, like all of us, has a limit to what he can do, we will also do our best to draw alongside him and offer ourselves to assist him in any way that he allows us to.

But, most of all, we will support him with our prayers, asking God in these trying times to grant him the wisdom to shepherd this parish to the best of his abilities, and the courage and strength to do that which he discerns is the path he must follow.

We will leave the rest of it in God's hands.

This is by no means an easy time to be a Catholic priest, and it is time that the people in the pews, you and I, step up.  In the past we could get away with sitting in the pews for mass, and go about our week, but it was not really a spiritually health strategy for that time, and is definitely not one now.  We must grow in our faith, and in our prayer lives for the good of the Catholic Church, and for our own salvation.

Those of us who go to mass receive the Body and Blood of Our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ, through the consecrating of the Eucharist at the hands of our holy priests.  This is a blessing of immense and untold worth.  It is the essence of the Catholic faith, and draws us into the salvation that Jesus came to give us.

But, if our priests are no longer able to bring this gift to us as "alter christus", who will?  We must do what is in our power, and prayer is always in our power, to lift our priests up, to give them strength, to love them for giving of themselves in service to others.

Show your pastor that you appreciate his sacrifice.  Pray for him, and encourage him in his work.

I Am a Catholic Christian

I was a cradle Catholic, or at least I was raised as a Catholic from my birth.  However, I took a sabbatical leave, as it were for about 10 years, in my rebellious twenties, until one day, as I stood in my kitchen with my wife, we both heard the voice of God speaking 3 words to us: "Go to Church."  Since life was very trying at the time, we eagerly obeyed that voice that we knew was His.

Since then, unlike most Catholic Christians I have been catechised, to a large extent by my involvement in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, which led me to study scripture and to read about and understand Catholic Apologetics.  Unlike our Protestant brothers and sisters, a large percentage of whom live with their bibles tucked under their arms and/or embedded into their minds, we tend to get our faith hits from attending mass if we so choose, not from falling in love with God, in His Holy Trinity.

This is not as it should be.  Our faith, Our Catholic Faith, is far too rich to be left to chance.  It is a beautiful heritage that our fallen away family both inside the Church and dear believers outside the Church are missing, and we, if we do not open ourselves up to God in our lives on a minnute by minute basis, are missing as well.

I have been engaged in a dialogue of sorts with a fundamentalist Reformed Christian brother from Williams Lake BC, who was raised in the Catholic Church, but was catechised after experiencing the presence of Jesus in his life, and left the Church.  He is very knowledgeable about the bible, and believes that it is important to share his faith with others.

I admire that in him, and his unwavering faith.

However, he has taken it upon himself to share the good news under the moniker Small Town Guy, with Father Tim Moyle over at the Where the Rubber Hits the Road blog.  My understanding of what I have read of his comment postings is that he feels compelled to save us from the Whore of Babylon, or as he abbreviates it, the RCC - that would be the Roman Catholic Church.

He does so by quoting bible scriptures, which he knows well, but does so ad nauseum, so where I want to know about him and his faith, so I can understand him, I get more scripture.  I really do want to know the real him.  I am fascinated by his faith journey.

When not quoting scripture, he references Loraine Boettner, a well known, long since deceased, Protestant apologist, who took it upon himself to write categorical denunciation of the Catholic Church.  I must say that all of the criticisms of the teachings of the Catholic Church are well researched (to a point), and well reasonsed, in the context in which they are written, except that they start from a bias.  When you know the answer to the question you are writing about before you start to write, you frame your answer accordingly, and this is how it is with Protestant apologetics.

When Luther effected the schism in the Catholic Church, centuries back, the protesters threw out the baby with the bath water.  I had planned to write that Luther executed the schism, and that would have been incorrect.  It is my opinion, one that I think I can well support, that the Catholic Church was complicit directly and indirectly in this schism, and must carry a great deal of the burden for grieving God's Holy Spirit at that particular time, and since then.

Those who began the protest against certain aspects of the Catholic Church, many of them worthy of heart felt protest, ignored the rich historic legacy and tradition of faith that had animated the early Church, in part because so little of it was evident in the Church of the time.  Yet, it is the relationship that the Apostles, and His mother had with Jesus that formed the basis of the teachings of the early Church, and indeed formed the basis for the discernment of what scriptures were to form the Bible.

We Catholics bear much of the responsibility for the separation that exists among Christians, and we Catholics must do all that we can to heal this division.  It is not just the job of Pope Benedict, though he is worthy of the task, and well suited to do his part. 

We must know our Church, her teachings, her devotions, but above all we must know Him who died to set us free from sin and death, and His Holy Spirit, who wants to teach us all things that are worthy of Knowledge and fill us with the Wisdom we need for our day to day journey to the foot of the Cross.

If we can present the truth, the Catholic truth, as cogently and as well researched as our separated brethren, then we can walk arm in arm to meet Jesus.

For You Fathers Out There

Happy Father's Day from Magnificat

Dear Friends,


We wish all of our fathers a grace-filled Father's Day!


May the Lord bless them abundantly on this joyful day - and always.


We would like to share with you the following blessing that you might like to pray as you gather on this special occasion:

God our Father,

in your wisdom and love you made all things.


Bless these men,


that they may be strengthened as Christian fathers.


Let the example of their faith and love shine forth.


Grant that we, their sons and daughters,


may honor them always


with a spirit of profound respect.


Grant this through Christ our Lord.


Amen. 

Asking God's blessing for you and your dear ones, especially all fathers, we assure you of our prayers, and thank you for being a faithful member of the Magnificat family.


Sincerely in Christ,


Magnificat

Fathers - God Bless You and Keep You And Me

It is Tough Work Being a Father.  Even harder to be a Dad.

This video was embedded over at Fallible Blogma today.  There are a couple of others there that are interesting as well.

Many times, too many times really, I have failed in my life to be the father depicted in this video, and my children have suffered for it.  Consequently, they have made choices in their lives that resemble some of my worst ones.  But, they are growing into fine young women despite my failures, in some small part I hope because of the man I am continuing to grow to be, rather then just the man I was.

As we celebrate Father's Day, it is important for us fathers to remember and pray for those who have made us fathers.

The 10 Martyrs of Shiraz

The Story of Mona, the Angel of Shiraz

Some time ago, I was linked to this posting which originates from here, bu Don Sharpe at Sharpe Stick.  I held this back until today, which marks the 27th anniversary of the martyrdom of Mona and 9 others.  They were executed during the Khomeini regime for holding to their Baha'i faith.  I am certain in my heart that Our Gracious Lord received all 10 of them into His loving arms upon their death.  Here is the original article:

I’d like to write about Mona Mahmudnizhad because she was more than a victim of oppression—she faced hatred with love, hardship with perseverance, and death with astonishing courage. Read her story, ponder her example, and see if she doesn't change your perspective on the possibilities inherent in humanity.

So many times when you think about people being tortured and killed for religious beliefs, it’s hard to picture the person, the young girl behind the story.

It was under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini, who had set out to rid their country and their revolution of the Baha’i community, the largest religious minority in Iran.

Mona, a 16 yrs old high school girl, was one of ten Baha’i women who were imprisoned in the fall of 1982.The Charge against them: Teaching Children’s Classes on the Baha’i Faith to Baha’i children – the equivalent of Sunday school in the west.

They endured months of abuse, interrogation and torture as the Islamic judges and their revolutionary guards attempted to force them to deny their religion. In Her last interrogation this is what Mona said to the Judge :
"Although I was born in a Baha'i family, according to Baha'i principles, we have to search for the truth ourselves rather than imitate our family's ideas and that is exactly what I have done. You have many of our Baha'i books here and you could read them and find this out for yourself. They never insisted on my becoming a Baha'i or accepting their ideas. If Your Honor insists that I recant my Faith, I should assure you that I will never do that and that I am ready to be executed."

The Judge was shocked at that point and looked at her angrily, saying, "You are just a child. How could you possibly know the real meaning of the word Faith? " Mona replied, "What more proof do you need than that I was dragged out of school and put in jail and now, for many months, have endured all these interrogations for the sake of my religion. What else but my Faith could give me the strength and power to stand here in front of you and answer your Questions."

Because of her youth and conspicuous innocence she became, in a sense, a symbol of their group in prison. She was lashed on the soles of her feet with a cable and forced to walk on bleeding feet, yet she never wavered in her faith.

On the eve of June 18, 1983, under cover of darkness, they were driven in a bus to a polo field on the outskirts of Shiraz where a gallows had been set up. The bus driver who took them there reported that they seemed to be in good spirits, singing on the way and prepared to meet their fate.

In a final effort to break their wills, the authorities hanged the women one by one as the others were forced to watch. Mona asked to be the final victim executed so that she could pray for the strength of each one who was hanged before her.

When her turn came, she kissed the rope and put the noose around her own necks, and said a prayer for the Happiness and Prosperity of all mankind and bid farewell to this mortal world. Before she died, Mona said, “What makes me happy is that I see that we have been chosen by God to be strong.”

The families of the women learned of the hangings of their loved ones the next morning, June 19. Mona's mother and her sister finally succeeded, after great difficulty, in getting permission to see the bodies. Mrs. Mahmudnizhad (Mona’s mom) who had been their companion until the last few days, kissed each woman on the cheek and then said, "I wish the whole world could see through my eyes how these dead bodies testify to the love of the Blessed Beauty (Baha’u’llah)."

Taraneh (Mona’s sister) later recounted: "It was a bitter day and for the last time, without having a thick glass in between, I kissed the beautiful and tranquil face of my dear sister and said goodbye to her. With all my heart, I was hoping that once more she would open her eyes and smile. But I know that now, forever, she is observing us with an everlasting smile and, if I shed any tears it would only upset her. So, my dear Mona, because of you and the love that you have for Baha'u'llah and for humanity, I laugh to let the people know why you sacrificed your life and why all those dear ones gave their sweet lives in His path."

The names and ages of the other women who were hanged with Mona are:
Mrs. Nusrat Yalda'i, 54 years old,
Mrs. 'Izzat Janami Ishraqi, 50 years old,
Miss Roya Ishraqi, 23 and daughter of 'Izzat,
Mrs. Tahirih Siyavushi, 32 years old,
Miss Zarrin Muqimi, 28 years old,
Miss Shirin Dalvand, 25 years old,
Miss Akhtar Sabit, 19 or early 20's,
Miss Simin Sabiri, early 20's,
Miss Mahshid Nirumand, 28 years old,
Please go to www.monasdream.com to see their pictures and read a short biography.(Click on the pictures, The first one is MONA) 

 God Bless You dear women, and may God have mercy on the souls of those who hated you so much as to kill you.

10 Things We Could Do If We Didn’t Love Porn So Much

Matthew Warner at Fallible Blogma

This young Catholic man makes a lot of sense.  At least he would, if we were not so turned on to pornography.  But, maybe there is a reason here to look at it differently, and to step away from those things that excite us, while destroying out souls.  Here is his latest missive.  Sounds pretty spot on to me.

I did some quick calculations:


There are about 25.5 million teenagers in the USA (ages 13-19). On average, each one spends 87 hours per year looking for or at pornography online. That means U.S. teens spend about 2.2 billion man-hours on pornography per year.


There are about 230 million adults in the USA (ages 20 and up). On average, each one spends 40 hours (extrapolating from the Brits) looking at pornography. That means US adults spend an estimated 9.2 billion man-hours on pornography per year.


So, all together, US adults and teens spend 11.4 billion man-hours per year on internet pornography alone.


We also spend over $13.3 billion on pornography in the United States every year. And that number is even a few years old.


Here area few other things we could do with that same time and money:


With that same amount of time (man-hours) we could…

Build the Empire State building…1,628 times.


Visit every single one of the 1.5 million U.S. nursing home residents, every single day of the year, for 20 hours a day…and still have free time left over.


Visit every single one of the 2 million prisoners in the United States, every single day, two people at a time, for 8 hours.


Have every single person (310 million) in the U.S. spend an extra 36 hours in prayer.


Spend 3 extra hours per week with each and every one of the 75 million teens and children in the United States.

With that same amount of money we could…

Provide, prepare and serve 7 billion school lunches. That’s enough to feed over 38 million students every school day of the year.


Pay for 1.9 million four-year college degrees.


Build 190,000 Habitat for Humanity homes…in Orange County, CA. Or we could build 7.25 million of them in India.


Give $13.3 million to one thousand different charities each.


Feed 1 billion people a meal…70 times.

And this says nothing of all of the other negative side effects that would be avoided if we could give up our porn – the loss of sanctifying grace being chief among them.


How many marriages are stressed by it? How many families broken? How many addictions formed? How many marital unions defiled, nullified and deeply scarred? How many abusers made callous to the dignity of the human person? How many brains are re-wired to objectify rather than dignify? How many innocents are spoiled?


How many problems would be improved or solved if we could only give up our porn? What a waste.

Revisiting the HRC's from a Commentor

Thank you Brian for your thoughts

I recently received comments to an older post, but really to a series of posts that I made about the Human Rights Commissions her in Canada, both provincially and federally.  We agree on many things, and don't on a few.  Brian agrees that the system currently is producing less than optimal results, but belives that something is needed to properly deal with the real racism that does go on in our Canadian society.

I think we all would agree that prejudice is not a good reason for acting, and should be remedied.  But, "how" is the question.  My answer is to try and build up the small faith of people to help them become better people, who would find racism and purely discriminatory behaviour to be unacceptable.

But, we all discriminate in making the day to day choices that we make, and there has to be some balance between what really is bad behaviour, and the day to day choices that individuals make for their own families, friends, and their own enlightened self interest.

Thank you for your reply. I can appreciate that you have moved past this issue so will no belabour the point. To be honest when I first replied I did not even think to check the date it was written. For this I apologize.


As for being from the HRC, I am not. I can appreciate your scepticism as I did read one of your posts about how someone from the Justice Department was looking into your site for several hours. That is unfortunate that you cannot put forth your views without being viewed as an enemy of the state. And I honestly do believe that there are many from the HRC who would love to have your head.

I think you do have a very good understanding of the HRC, from everything I have read. Definitely a more thorough understanding than I can claim. I do think that you may possibly be slightly jaded by your personal experiences with the failings (really an outright abuse) perpetrated by the HRC.

I cannot fault you or anyone for that. You have every right to look into their decisions and handling of cases with a critical eye. It is good that the HRC is held in check to some degree....even if it is only by oversight from the citizens and not kept in check by the government itself.

The case of your principal friend really is shocking and ridiculous! The treated of the Reverend from Alberta, regardless of my strong personal opposition to his views, was an outright affront to free speech. Plain and simple. I do not want to live in a country where we cannot state our opinions. You really are not exaggerating by saying that your principal friend was a victim of the HRC. In that case, it appears that they were the only ones victimized. Which is shameful!

I could not imagine how terrible it was for your friend to have gone through such a travesty of justice. To be publicly chastised for being discriminatory against minorities is a stain against your friends character that even the truth cannot wash away.

I must also agree with your comment regarding being guilty of being white. As a white male I too see reverse discrimination in everything from hiring practices to being more susceptible to bogus claims of discrimination. Your right. If I was to fire a minority because they were horrible at their job it is far too easy for me to be painted as a racist rather than admitting the truth that the person was just horrible at their job. That is a fact and is a form of discrimination itself.

I think that perhaps we just may differ in how we approach or examine the issue of Human Rights. I feel that you are trying to bring to light the many miscarriages of justice that occur as a result of the HRC from an unchecked power and initiated by many unscrupulous people out for a quick buck at the expense of everyone else.


And this is to be commended. I do appreciate hearing about these cases. If not for your writings one might be inclined to view the HRC as sunshine and lollipops without realizing that it is not always this clear cut and in fact the HRC itself discriminates and victimizes people.

But because of my personal experiences I tend to examine the issue from the perspective of those who truly have been victims of real discrimination. I know it exists and am happy that there is some venue to hold those responsibly accountable. But I cannot say with any certainty that the HRC is definitely the right approach to deal with such issues. It certainly has major short comings which your posts brings to light.

Finally, your call for commonsense to prevail is a good one. Your principal friend was the victim of people acting without commonsense. You frequently say, something to the affect that, once the HRC has a target and tastes blood in the water they are ravenous sharks with tunnel vision set solely on destroying their target. This is unfortunate, unfair and unacceptable.

So we can agree that the HRC has major problems and that unethical people abuse the system and victimizes
innocent people in the process. However, I am still glad that there is an avenue to hold those individuals accountable who do actually discriminate and to protect those who really are victims of discrimination. Which I have personally seen. But perhaps the problems with the HRC are so deep rooted and intertwined within the culture of the HRC as to be beyond repair.

But whether or not it is the HRC or a new organization is developed to protect the Rights of ALL Canadians, I hope we can agree that there is a need to ensure that everyone’s Human Rights are respected EQUALLY, not placing one groups over that of another.

So in conclusion, thank you for your posts on this topic. They have brought many issues to light and helped me examine my own views on the HRC and Human Rights. While I don’t always agree. They are always interesting, well written and informative.
So a sincere Thank You.

Worshipping Statues - Do Catholics Do That?

Patrick Madrid

Patrick Madrid is a pretty well known Catholic apologist.  He has his own blog linked above at his name.  Here is an excerpt from a piece he wrote about Catholics and statues that goes deeper than our fundamentalist brethren normally go, when they accuse Catholics of worshipping statuary. 

Frankly, I find the fundy position ridiculous itself, but here  in totality is a good answer for your fundy friends when they charge you with idolatry.  Mr. Madrid quotes the bible appropriately, and even provides links to the Catholic Catechism.  If, of course your bible references don't mollify our brethren, I don't expect that the Catholic Catechism is going to do it.  Good luck to you.

WHEN I ARRIVED ONE EVENING at a suburban Chicago parish to conduct an apologetics seminar, I noticed a life-sized statue of Our Lady of Fatima on the rectory lawn. Kneeling before that statue were three smaller statues of Lucia, Francisco, and Jacinta – the children to whom Our Lady appeared. Their statues were kneeling in prayer, heads bowed before the larger statue.
Turning to my colleague in the car, I joked, ―What a great religion Catholicism is! Not only can we worship statues, but our statues can worship statues.‖ We chuckled at the absurdity of the thought.

When I mentioned this incident during the seminar, the Catholics in the audience laughed at the notion of statues worshipping statues and the nonsense of humans worshipping statues, but some of the Protestants in attendance weren’t laughing. They looked puzzled. The reason, as I discovered during the Q&A session, was that some of them actually believed that Catholics do worship statues.

The disapproval many Protestants have toward Catholic religious statues and images is fueled by a suspicion that Catholics engage in idolatry by worshipping those statues. This concern is far more widespread than you might think. Most object to religious statues on biblical grounds.

The rest is at the link above and also in this online PDF file here.