The Perils of Progressivism

 

This timeline, along with these recent statistics, demonstrates that the eroding of family life in the United States is not something sudden, but rather the result of a gradual process of social change.

The events listed are not a random collection, but show a determined and coordinated decline of our culture, rooted in our changing understanding of sexuality, marriage and family, and even life itself (which is now a commodity, which can be engineered).

The link between contraception, abortion, and homosexuality itself can be demonstrated simply by examining the Supreme Court decisions concerning these issues, which in their opinions directly build one upon the other.

See the timeline

A colossal Catholic Church failure of such massive proportions, it boggles the mind!

Upside-down flag as a distress signal

by Doug Lawrence

Reminiscing about going to Catholic school in the 1950’s and 60’s in Chicago, when the post-war baby boomers swelled the ranks of the student body by a factor of two or three, we remembered the wonderful, Jesus-centered teaching Sisters who somehow managed to maintain control of their classrooms, in spite of having over fifty young children in their charge. They even managed to do it with a certain dignity, grace (and yes, even serenity) that’s seldom seen in this day and age!

Monthly tuition was generally less than $5 per student ($45 per school year) – with substantial discounts available for families with several children – and the quality of the education was unsurpassed!

It wasn’t uncommon to have three or more classes per grade level, with fifty or more children in each – all of them good little Catholic saints-in-training.

Thanks to the dedicated sisters and the Baltimore Catechism, the children actually knew all of the basic Catholic prayers – as well as who made the world, who God is, who man is, why God made them – and many other critically important Catholic concepts and truths!

Common sense tells us that such a huge wave
of well trained, superbly disciplined Catholic children
should have soon blossomed into the mainstream world,
profoundly and permanently changing things for the better,
elevating the public status of the Catholic Church to new heights
and attracting a virtual flood of new converts.

Only that’s not what happened.

You see – somebody came up with the idea to call a Church Council – and to use that Council to introduce strange, radical changes – supposedly intended to reinvigorate the decrepit, crumbling and hopelessly out of date Catholic Church of the Ages.

This would almost certainly usher in a “New Springtime” for the Church and initiate an era of growth, peace and unity never before seen by mankind.

Yeah … right!

What we got instead was a Catholic Church in apostasy and chaos, dominated by radicals and wackos who held distinct Protestant, Communist and yes, even Masonic ideologies.

For a time, it became a “know-nothing” church – where you couldn’t get a straight answer about anything. It was also seriously divided along secular political lines. Because of all this, and despite the misleading public facade, the Catholic Church was able to function at only a very minimal level.

A mere shadow of its former self, the “new” Church, for a time, was of little practical use to anyone – except for a precious few of God’s very elect – and of course – for many of the incompetents, homosexual pederasts, clericalists, heretics and careerists who remained (and unfortunately, still remain) in power.

When chaos reigns, almost anything goes!

This is what we baby boomer Catholics were faced with, as we went out to make our way in the world. Our “train” had wrecked and we found ourselves wandering alone, through an unknown spiritual landscape that was fraught with unparalleled confusion, corruption and ruin.

When we eventually managed to make our way back and reestablish contact with Holy Mother Church, we found that she had become almost unrecognizable!

Mark H. – one of our regular readers and frequent commenters – recently pointed out the type of damage that can occur when unelected liberal elitists who happen to be in charge of things, band together to arbitrarily recreate a community, in their own tragically flawed image and likeness.

For the Catholic Church, it meant the spiritual abortion
of nearly an entire generation of faithful Catholics.

For the world at large, it would soon mean
the literal abortion of millions of innocent babies,
along with the normalization
of many other abominable forms of moral apostasy.

This was, without a doubt, one of the most colossal failures
of moral leadership in the history of the modern world.

It should be noteworthy that it was the leadership
of the Catholic Church which was the first to fall,
opening the gates for all that would later come to pass.  

This “Mystery of Iniquity” is one of the reasons I keep coming back to 2nd Thessalonians 2:1-17:

(1) And we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our gathering together unto him:
(2) That you be not easily moved from your sense nor be terrified, neither by spirit nor by word nor by epistle. as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand.
(3) Let no man deceive you by any means: for unless there come a revolt first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition
(4) Who opposeth and is lifted up above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as if he were God.
(5) Remember you not that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
(6) And now you know what withholdeth, that he may be revealed in his time.
(7) For the mystery of iniquity already worketh: only that he who now holdeth do hold, until he be taken out of the way.
(8) And then that wicked one shall be revealed: whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: him
(9) Whose coming is according to the working of Satan, in all power and signs and lying wonders:
(10) And in all seduction of iniquity to them that perish: because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
(11) Therefore God shall send them the operation of error, to believe lying:
(12) That all may be judged who have not believed the truth but have consented to iniquity.
(13) But we ought to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of God, for that God hath chosen you firstfruits unto salvation, in sanctification of the spirit and faith of the truth:
(14) Whereunto also he hath called you by our gospel, unto the purchasing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(15) Therefore, brethren, stand fast: and hold the traditions, which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle.
(16) Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God and our Father, who hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope in grace,
(17) Exhort your hearts and confirm you in every good work and word.

*****

The violence – both spiritual and physical – continues unabated, to this day – and we Catholics have recently been advised by our Pope to stop obsessing about it.

Make of that whatever you like!

Dr. Jeff, a pro-abort writer, marine biologist and ethicist, would like you to know…

Dr. Jeff writes, in part:

Nobody likes abortion.  That is not the question being debated.

Prevention, not abortion, is the vastly preferred method of family planning.

Abortion is an invasive surgical technique, physically and psychologically traumatic, expensive, and potentially dangerous.

Whereas sex should be as frequent as desired, unwanted pregnancy should be exceptional rather than routine.

Part of the adult responsibility commensurate with having an active sex life is prudent and careful use of contraception.

Abortion should not be viewed as a contraceptive. However, if an unwanted pregnancy occurs, a women’s right to choose her own reproductive destiny must be protected.  As should our right to live in a country free from religious tyranny.

Editor’s note: Dr. Jeff also complains about the Christian religion being the cause of all the trouble about abortion and he goes on to explain in detail, his personal beliefs about such matters – all of which sounds like just another form of religion, to me.

Claiming to be a highly educated person, Dr. Jeff comes across instead as being voluntarily ignorant about the facts of the matters in contention.

Dr. Jeff also appears to have a “god” complex – with Dr. Jeff alone as the omnipotent and all-knowing one. Hence, Dr. Jeff can arbitrarily lobby for the willful, wanton and violent destruction of innocent human life – and receive both a handsome fee and the thanks of a grateful nation for so doing.

According to the premises put forward in his article, this man’s personal beliefs appear to be twisted, almost beyond recognition. Some examples:

Dr. Jeff claims that life does not begin at conception. He explains this is due to the fact that there is a high rate of silent and other types of miscarriages – according to his dubious statistics – around 75%. I say, “So what? Who elected you god?”

In spite of his view on when life begins, Dr. Jeff claims that part of the adult responsibility commensurate with having an active sex life is prudent and careful use of contraception. I say, “If as you claim, life does not begin at conception – why would anyone have the responsibility to use contraception?

Dr. Jeff equates separate egg and sperm cells with the already fertilized ovum. To him, there is absolutely no difference between them. I say, “Even a third grader can tell the difference between the means of conception and its’ awesome product.”

Dr. Jeff  justifies the wanton killing of the unborn by claiming that newly conceived babes in the womb are essentially brainless, unfeeling, unthinking, good-for-nothings. I say, “I know a lot of adults who fit that description.”

Dr. Jeff claims that life is NOT sacred – or to put a little sharper point on things – he claims that IF life were indeed sacred – there would be no war, no capital punishment, no right of self-defense, etc., etc., etc.. I say, “That’s a lot of “BS” – and everybody knows it. The fact that certain immoral and/or illegal things continue to occur in this world does absolutely nothing to change the essential nature of the things of which this world actually consists.”

Dr. Jeff seems to have invented for himself a little, virtual world where he gets to make all the rules – where he alone is god – and he seems to absolutely hate the fact that others might not respect or appreciate his sovereign view of things.   

Let’s all pray that Dr. Jeff’s tortured soul is healed and like many other former pro-aborts, he shortly comes to fully know the authentic light of truth.

“Avoid contact. Very primitive. They kill their young so they can live as they wish.”

The issue of abortion really comes down to two very basic, rational issues:

If an abortion really involves the removal of nothing more than growing tissue within the womb, then no justification is necessary.

If abortion actually involves taking the life of an innocent, unborn child, then no justification is sufficient.

The worst of both worlds: Weak Catholic Bishops and corrupt Catholic politicians.

Publicly, the Kennedys patronized the Church, but privately they helped create a shadow church of religious laymen and clergy who helped them rationalize their own version of Catholicism.

The Catholic pro-abortion movement, for instance, was hatched at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. In the summer of 1964, Bobby and Ted Kennedy met at the Cape with some leading dissident priests – Robert Drinan, Richard McCormick, Joseph Fuchs, and Charles Curran – to figure out how Catholic politicians could pander to the growing abortion movement without upsetting their Catholic constituencies.

According to one witness, the theologians “concurred on certain basics: that a Catholic politician could in good conscience, vote in favor of abortion.”

The action plan that was developed that week in Hyannis Port, in sociologist Anne Hendershott’s judgment, contributed to effectively neutralizing the Catholic laity and “helped build the foundation for the [Democratic] party’s reincarnation as the party of abortion.”

Read more

Abortion is …

Abortion is medieval and barbaric. It is the use of surgical and other instruments and/or substances to dismember, disembowel, decapitate, poison and/or burn to death a developing member of the species Homo sapiens. (The medieval period may suffer an unfair reputation, but the connotation is clear, and it clearly applies to abortion.)

Abortion is ignorant and anti-science. It has always been premised on ignorance — ignorance of the plain scientific facts of human embryology and developmental biology. There are no longer any excuses.

Abortion is childish and morally primitive. It is the use of violence (lethal violence, no less) to get what we want for ourselves.

More

 

The only fair way for the government to grant unrestricted abortion rights is to make murder legal, across the board.

by Doug Lawrence

Forget the Commandment, “Thou Shall Not Kill.” Forget the ongoing argument over capital punishment. Forget the distinctions drawn by all the various abortion laws and statutes. Forget defining when life begins. Forget the Supreme Court.

The only fair way for the government to grant unrestricted abortion rights is to make murder legal … any time … and for any reason. Simply decriminalize the capital crime of murder!

That’s what we’re already doing with abortion … and that’s what is already happening with victims of street violence in certain parts of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Washington DC, and in many other places around the globe.

It’s also already happening in the organ transplant wards of many of today’s hospitals, where clinical “death” is being constantly redefined in order to free up more and better quality organs for transplant.

And of course, citizens of the Netherlands (and elsewhere) have already been granted the right to kill friends and relatives who may have outlived their usefulness … with virtually no questions asked!

This is really the only logical way “forward”. Any true “progressive” would agree … and the rest of you simply don’t matter!

There is one thing that should still be legally required of abortuaries, though.

Abortuaries ought to be required to dispose of all the aborted babies … and any mothers not fortunate enough to survive the procedure … in on-site, oven-style crematories, equipped with very tall, very “dirty”chimneys … so that everyone living in the surrounding neighborhood might be able to regularly enjoy the human “fallout” wafting gently down from above … and doing so … come to a deeper appreciation of all the ways our society benefits from “a woman’s right to choose”.

It might go something like this:

Child to mother: What’s that falling from the sky, mother? 

Mother replies: Oh, nothing. They’re just burning up some more aborted babies. (Wheeze!)

Child to mother: Will I be able to kill my baby when I grow up? 

Mother replies: Certainly, dear. It’s our right!

Child: Oh, goody! (Cough, cough!)

The politician’s dirty little secret: Planned Parenthood is really a “quasi-governmental agency” (like the Post Office)

by Doug Lawrence

After the failure of LBJ’s “Great Society” welfare program, where single moms received a bigger and bigger monthly check from the government, the more children they had … so long as there was no husband/father at home … the government turned to abortion and baby-killing in order to save money by reducing the number of poor people on the government dole.

Catholic politicians hired crooked theologians to fabricate policies and excuses that would permit abortion under almost every circumstance, and most non-Catholic politicians willingly went along.

The Supreme Court did their part with the trumped up and totally phony Roe v Wade, while the Catholic hierarchy … thanks primarily to the late Cardinal Bernardin, was both complicit and almost totally negligent in their lack of a sufficient, timely, and moral response to all of the above.

Planned Parenthood was subsequently given a huge annual subsidy by the federal government, along with generous supplemental funding from many of the states. Making birth control available to the masses was said to be the official objective, but abortion on demand, across the land, was always the real goal.

Abort as many black and hispanic babies as possible
in order to cheaply and efficiently
solve the poverty problem in the United States
through attrition.

It would be several years before the American public took notice of this particular paradigm shift, and by then it had gone way too far to be stopped.

Forty years later, Planned Parenthood still receives nearly a million dollars a day in federal subsidies. Abortion is still legal, still protected and still officially sanctioned by the U.S. Government.

Even though the God-fearing Democrats are known to absolutely love abortion, this is not strictly a partisan issue.

When the the Republicans recently controlled both houses of Congress as well as the Presidency, they made no real effort to outlaw abortion. All we got were a few “feel good” incremental restrictions and a short phone call from the President, to help kick off the annual Washington, D.C. March for Life.

The current fight to defund Planned Parenthood and further restrict abortion typically goes no further than the Democrat controlled Senate , where bills quickly meet their demise in committee … and even if, by some miracle, a solid anti-abortion measure got approved by both the House and Senate … Barack Obama … the Abortion President … would surely exercise his veto privilege … in order to kill it.

In light of all these years of political play acting … by politicians of both parties … I’m willing to bet anyone … $10 … that should we ever again have a Republican controlled House, Senate, and Presidency … they will still … somehow … fail to pass a comprehensive federal ban on abortion.

Any takers?

Is there a special place in hell for abortion supporters?

I would like to review some of the principles to keep in mind as you approach the voting booth to complete your ballot. The first is the set of non-negotiables [time to start using this word].

These are areas that are “intrinsically evil” and cannot be supported by anyone who is a believer in God or the common good or the dignity of the human person.

They are:

1. abortion

2. euthanasia

3. embryonic stem cell research

4. human cloning

5. homosexual “marriage”

… Some candidates and one party have even chosen some of these as their party’s or their personal political platform. To vote for someone in favor of these positions means that you could be morally “complicit” with these choices which are intrinsically evil.

This could put your own soul in jeopardy (link).

An American Nun Responds To Pro-Abortion Criticism

On abortion

“I think the criticism of what we’re not talking about seems to me to be unfair. Because [Women] Religious have clearly given our lives to supporting life, to supporting the dignity of human persons. Our works are very much pro-life.

(Ed: Except when you actively condone and promote the destruction of unborn babies, which is what many of these “sisters” are known to do.)

We would question, however, any policy that is more pro-fetus than actually pro-life. If the rights of the unborn trump all of the rights of all of those who are already born, that is a distortion, too if there’s such an emphasis on that.

(Ed: The only other way to do this is to support abortion on demand. And that is what many of these “sisters” are all about.)

However, we have sisters who work in right-to-life issues. We also have many, many ministries that support life. We dedicate to our lives to those on the margins of society, many of whom are considered throwaway people: the impaired, the chronically mentally ill, the elderly, the incarcerated, to the people on death row.

(Ed: What she’s saying is that it’s OK to kill babies if you do other good work. Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Planned Parenthood wholeheartedly agree!)

We have strongly spoken out against the death penalty, against war, hunger. All of those are right-to-life issues. There’s so much being said about abortion that is often phrased in such extreme and such polarizing terms that to choose not to enter into a debate that is so widely covered by other sectors of the Catholic Church and we have been giving voice to other issues that are less covered but are equally as important.

“Our concern is that right-to-life issues be seen across a whole spectrum and are not narrowly defined. … To single out one right-to-life issue and to say that that’s the only issue that defines Catholic identity, I think, is really a distortion.”

(Ed: There are no issues that are “equally as important” as the wanton destruction of human life in the womb. The old “Seamless Garment” strategy was a shabby political construct of the 1970’s and 80’s. It is no better, and equally disingenuous today!)

Editor’s note: The carefully crafted liberal doublespeak employed by this woman is blatantly obvious, as are the motives of NPR. Let’s be honest: the policies and practices of the LCWR are much more in keeping with the Socialist Democratic Party of the United States than the Roman Catholic Church.

Reasons why they don’t like to see gruesome abortion pictures: #1 – Before you can flagrantly kill babies for profit, you must first dehumanize them, by denying the all too obvious reality.

by Doug Lawrence

Every body part of the aborted fetus shown above is obviously human, since never in the history of the entire human race has a non-human baby been naturally conceived by two other human beings.

Killing innocent human beings has always been morally wrong, so abortion is also obviously, morally wrong.

Anyone who believes anything to the contrary is either deranged, a liar, a fool … or …  President of the United States.

Anyone who financially assists such persons or groups, or lends political and/or ideological support of any kind to their cause is complicit in their evil work, and ultimately shares the responsibility for their immoral acts.

In the several thousand year-old, authentic Judeo-Christian Tradition, abortion has always been considered to be an intrinsically evil and gravely sinful offense against both God and man.

Some things were so logical, commonly understood, and firmly embedded in the culture of the people of that day, the biblical writers found little reason to expound upon them, to any great degree.

Abortion and homosexuality are two primary examples of such things. Neither was ever accepted or publicly tolerated, from the earliest days, since both were always considered gravely sinful by Jews and Christians, alike.

The pagans who routinely practiced such things were thought to be cursed by almighty God, and already destined for hell. Only by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, along with baptism and authentic repentance, through faithful membership and full participation in the Catholic Church, could such persons make peace with the one, true God, find justification in his grace, and hope to obtain eternal life.

Government efforts to normalize abortion, homosexual behavior, and other intrinsically evil acts only serve to lure gullible people into aberrant modes of existence that are offensive to God, harmful to society, and potentially deadly to their own immortal souls.

People who choose to build their lives around the promotion, pursuit and practice of illicit and offensive, intrinsically evil acts, literally cut themselves off from the primary sources of God’s grace … particularly, sacramental reconciliation and holy communion.

Unless and until their illicit living arrangements have been terminated (this also applies to unmarried cohabiting heterosexual couples) and/or their support for abortion and similar abominations ceases, such person will typically be “trapped” in their sins, through their own deliberate acts … and be unable to make a good confession … or worthily receive holy communion.

Contrary to the efforts of today’s highly skilled propagandists of perversity, nothing has happened over the last 5,000 years to alter these things … or to change God’s mind about them, in any way.

Jesus Christ is, was, and always has been God, the second person of the Holy Trinity … so every jot and tittle (iota, in the Greek) of the God-inspired sacred scriptures (the Bible) is indeed the authentic word of Jesus Christ … whether proclaimed directly by him, as recorded in the Gospels … or otherwise. No exceptions!

While the entirety of the old law was indeed perfectly fulfilled and respectfully set aside, in favor of Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice on the cross, the Catholic Church … exercising the awesome and virtually unrestricted power given to it directly by Jesus himself … soon reaffirmed (for all time) the essential substance of the great moral precepts contained in the Ten Commandments.

Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers: Nor the effeminate nor liers with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor railers nor extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God.  (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

Jesus Christ, yesterday, and today: and the same for ever. Be not led away with various and strange doctrines… (Hebrews 13:8-9)

The Catholic Catechism contains some excellent advice for married couples

 

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

2363 The spouses’ union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life. These two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple’s spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family.

The conjugal love of man and woman thus stands under the twofold obligation of fidelity and fecundity.

* Conjugal fidelity

2364 The married couple forms “the intimate partnership of life and love established by the Creator and governed by his laws; it is rooted in the conjugal covenant, that is, in their irrevocable personal consent.”¹⁴⁷ Both give themselves definitively and totally to one another. They are no longer two; from now on they form one flesh. The covenant they freely contracted imposes on the spouses the obligation to preserve it as unique and indissoluble.¹⁴⁸ “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”¹⁴⁹

2365 Fidelity expresses constancy in keeping one’s given word. God is faithful. The Sacrament of Matrimony enables man and woman to enter into Christ’s fidelity for his Church. Through conjugal chastity, they bear witness to this mystery before the world.

St. John Chrysostom suggests that young husbands should say to their wives: I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you in such a way that we may be assured of not being separated in the life reserved for us. . . . I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.¹⁵⁰

* The fecundity of marriage

2366 Fecundity is a gift, an end of marriage, for conjugal love naturally tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church, which is “on the side of life,”¹⁵¹ teaches that “it is necessary that each and every marriage act remain ordered per se to the procreation of human life.”¹⁵² “This particular doctrine, expounded on numerous occasions by the Magisterium, is based on the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act.”¹⁵³

2367 Called to give life, spouses share in the creative power and fatherhood of God.¹⁵⁴ “Married couples should regard it as their proper mission to transmit human life and to educate their children; they should realize that they are thereby cooperating with the love of God the Creator and are, in a certain sense, its interpreters. They will fulfill this duty with a sense of human and Christian responsibility.”¹⁵⁵

2368 A particular aspect of this responsibility concerns the regulation of procreation. For just reasons, spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood. Moreover, they should conform their behavior to the objective criteria of morality:

When it is a question of harmonizing married love with the responsible transmission of life, the morality of the behavior does not depend on sincere intention and evaluation of motives alone; but it must be determined by objective criteria, criteria drawn from the nature of the person and his acts, criteria that respect the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love; this is possible only if the virtue of married chastity is practiced with sincerity of heart.¹⁵⁶

2369 “By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true mutual love and its orientation toward man’s exalted vocation to parenthood.”¹⁵⁷

2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality.¹⁵⁸ These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, “every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible” is intrinsically evil:¹⁵⁹

Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality. . . . The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.¹⁶⁰

2371 “Let all be convinced that human life and the duty of transmitting it are not limited by the horizons of this life only: their true evaluation and full significance can be understood only in reference to man’s eternal destiny.”¹⁶¹

2372 The state has a responsibility for its citizens’ well-being. In this capacity it is legitimate for it to intervene to orient the demography of the population. This can be done by means of objective and respectful information, but certainly not by authoritarian, coercive measures. The state may not legitimately usurp the initiative of spouses, who have the primary responsibility for the procreation and education of their children.¹⁶² In this area, it is not authorized to employ means contrary to the moral law.

The gift of a child

2373 Sacred Scripture and the Church’s traditional practice see in large families a sign of God’s blessing and the parents’ generosity.¹⁶³

Psycho babe claims she “loves” abortion … and you should too!

Rather than trying to cozy up to the forced-birth camp, women who value their freedom should be proud to say that they like abortion. In fact, they should venerate it whole-heartedly. Abortion is our last refuge, the one final, definitive instrument that secures our bodily autonomy. What’s not to love?

Link

Editor’s note: The Bible is quite often literally true … as well as prophetic.

(2nd Timothy 3:1-7)

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Little known fact: The Catholic Church has been 100% pro life for the last 2000 years.

The earliest reference to contraception and abortion is in the Didache, a document from the second half of the first century or early second century. Didache reads: “You shall not practice birth control, you shall not murder a child by abortion, nor kill what is begotten”.

Read more

Editor’s note: The prohibition against artificial contraception and the support of natural procreation and the family is solidly rooted in the (approximately 7,000 year-old) Judeo-Christian faith tradition. The fact that the majority of today’s Jews tend to support abortion and contraception has no more bearing on this issue than the fact that many misguided Catholics choose rely on artificial contraceptives.

The scriptures and the authoritative teachings of the Catholic Church are totally consistent in their unequivocal support of life and family … and their absolute condemnation of abortion, infanticide, and contraception.

Randy Engel’s Old Time Religion Prescription, for Catholics

… let us continue to do all that is necessary for our own salvation and for those entrusted to our care. We need to be soldiers of Christ and for Christ. Cradle Catholics like me know the holy drill well enough, at least in part, but it nevertheless bears repeating.

Following the four divisions of the doctrines of salvation found in The Catechism of the Council of Trent: the Apostles Creed (what we are to believe); the Sacraments (the instruments of grace); the Ten Commandments (what we must do); and the Lord’s Prayer (whatever can be the object of the Christian’s desires, or hopes, or prayers), let us strive to:

• Love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind, and with our whole strength, and our neighbor as thyself.
• Live the spiritual life according to our state in life.
• Be modest in speech, dress and demeanor as is befitting a child of God
• Keep custody of our eyes; avoid the near occasions of sin.
• Keep ourselves in the state of grace.
• Attend the Traditional Mass.
• Frequent the Sacraments especially that of Penance and the Holy Communion.
• Bring the body under subjugation by fasting, acts of penance, and the offering up of sufferings in reparation for thy sins and those of the world.
• Read Holy Scripture; set time apart for daily meditation and recitation of the Rosary, before the Blessed Sacrament when possible.
• Cultivate a special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Attend First Friday and First Saturday Masses.
• Pray for the Poor Souls in Purgatory and unbaptized children in Limbo.
• Pray to our Guardian Angel and to our patron saint (s) daily.
• Make generous use of Sacramentals especially the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
• Pray for our enemies recalling the words of Saint Thomas More written in the Tower of London, 1534: “To think my most enemies my best friends, for the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred.”
• Give Glory to the One Triune God — Father, Son and Holy Ghost — always and everywhere.

Free Download – The Catechism of the Council of Trent (PDF)

 

Ignoring the inherited, intuitive wisdom by which the people have always lived.

What we have in the United States today is not an ideological battle, or even a cultural war, but something larger and deeper: a true clash of irreconcilable philosophic views, not just about abortion, but about truth.

One of those views encompasses all that is best in the Western tradition from antiquity until now, including the findings of science, and the other holds that everything that is essential to human betterment in the modern world began during the Enlightenment, and everything preceding that was obscurantist, credulous, and bloody.

From the mad-dog attacks of the New Atheists to the absurd mental gymnastics of Justice Harry Blackman in Roe v. Wade, from New York Times editorials to movies and TV dramas, the strategy is always the same: create a climate of doubt about the possibility of objective truth, discoverable by reason; corrupt the inherited intuitive wisdom by which the people have always lived; construct and then promulgate through mass-media entertainment a philosophy that puts an end to all philosophy, destroying civility in its broadest and deepest sense.

Define, deride, delegitimize, deconstruct, then destroy.

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Editor’s note: In the aftermath of the 2nd Vatican Council, the Catholic Church experienced nothing less than this. The confusion (and yes, deconstruction) in the Catholic Church paved the way for the release of all the societal evils that followed in its (woke) wake.

Pope John XXIII made the mess.

Pope Paul VI inherited the mess.

Pope John Paul I was fortunate to have to endure the mess for only 33 days.

Pope John Paul II was a primary instigator of the mess (at the council) and spent 27 years of his papacy trying to make sense of it and promoting it.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) was one of the key architects of the mess (at the council). As one of the most widely published liberal, radical German Catholic theologians, his own extensive writings (including some of his later works) convict him of many of the sins that are mentioned in this article.

It’s interesting to note that once Benedict XVI inherited the mess he helped to make, even he couldn’t stand by and allow things to proceed, without at least a few significant modifications. Because of this, many mistakenly consider Benedict XVI to have been a conservative pope.

And now, of course, we have Francis…

Jungians, Neo-Pagans, New Agers and Feminists – and their unholy “sacrament” of abortion

The Sacrament of Abortion, written by Ginette Paris (Spring Publications, Dallas, 1992), proposes paganism (i.e. polytheism, witchcraft, earth worship, etc.) as a superior model for a society struggling with abortion issues.

In addition to providing an ecological relief valve for the misrepresentation of human population as the root of all evils, Paris adopts the Jungian models of mythology as universal archetypes for the evolving human consciousness, a common dogma among neo-pagans. Jung was a spiritualist who was fascinated with the occult. His ideas provide a multi-dimensional bridge between pagan mythology, psychology and atheistic existentialism, the outcome being the emergence of a universalist atheistic religion.

Having rejected the gospel message of the Bible, Paris reduces Christianity to a common mythology wherein the buyer can pick and choose according to the whims of the individual. But she doesn’t care to leave it at that, but campaigns for its demise, tooth and nail, also typical of paganism. How does this work alongside an obligation to accept everybody’s deity? Once the Godly influence of the Bible has been thrown out, then the selection for viable models becomes an act of moral relativism, subject to carnal proclivities and post-modernist fads such as the destructive anti-human doctrine of biocentrism.

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Corruptio optimi pessima is a Latin phrase meaning, “corruption of the best becomes the worst.”

Biden’s version of Catholicism is an escapade.  Biden’s election was illicit.  His fake-Presidency is ridiculous, full of blunders, gaffs and senility.  But probably over 50% of US Catholic priests and bishops voted for this man in 2020—thinking it was the “Catholic” thing to do.

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Askmeaboutgod.org is the new “home” of The Catholic Treasure Chest website

I’ve lost touch with my old friend Bob Stanley,
of The Catholic Treasure Chest
and the original domain name is no longer available.

Bob’s site has been (for the last 20 years or so) one of the finest, most complete, truly Catholic websites on the planet.

According to the informal plan that Bob and I worked up together, many years ago: Should such an event occur, I was to restore the site from a comprehensive backup and get things up and running again, ASAP.

The Catholic Treasure Chest is once again, up and running
and may be accessed through available links
on this (www.AskMeAboutGod.org) site.

Click here to view

Update: Bob Stanley has passed away

Deeply Concerned Catholic Priest Writes: I now believe we are at the point where half of America is possessed, or highly diabolically oppressed.

I now believe we are at the point where half of America is possessed, or highly oppressed.

For one, our 100 years of sexual sins and abortion have caught up to us. People screaming “racist!” at non-racists like Trump and Tucker without any evidence and without any interest in honest discussion first seemed to me to be the cause of insanity in our country. But now I see such insanity is the symptom (not the cause) of such insanity.

Such insanity has grown in the minds of Americans already ratifying their consciences under 50 years of killing of unborn children. Or, for example:  The leftists ignoring the fact that coronavirus can be nearly cured by not only hydroxychloroquine but also by inhaled steroids at first seemed to me to be the cause of insanity in our country.

But as I look closer at this, yet again, I see that such insanity is simply the symptom (not the cause) of 50 years of killing our own unborn children.

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