The Catholic Church has no “small-minded rules – but rather an abundance of small-minded clerics.

Lessons the Coca-Cola Company Promptly Learned
That Catholic Clerics Never Have   

by Doug Lawrence

It is a form of blasphemy to blame God’s Holy Church for what some choose to term “small-minded” rules, since the Church belongs to God – and God is utterly incapable of any type of error.

Rather, let’s look at those clerics – at every level – who have led the Church in more worldly directions – imprudent directions that were  often contrary to the laws of God and detrimental to the care of souls.

I’m not going to attempt to list all of the official sins of the clerical leadership of the Catholic Church, nor is such a thing necessary, since unlike Church teachings, the bulk of those offenses are indeed known and essentially understood by all.

The small-minded truth of the matter is the sheer audacity and unmitigated gall of those liberal, modernist clerics who thought themselves smarter than God and who decided that everything needed to change – and who discarded 2000 years of accumulated wisdom and tradition, in favor of their own, flavor-of-the-week, untested novelties.

When the managers of the Coca-Cola Company got caught up in the very same obtuse spirit of “novelty for the sake of novelty” they too summarily discontinued a tried and true, proven “product” in favor of an all-new replacement which they deemed to be more in tune with modern  times and tastes.

They were wrong – and “New Coke” turned out to be a total, unmitigated disaster – that without prompt corrective action  might  have spelled the end of the company.

So, motivated by economic factors and the desire to survive – within a period of about six months – original Coca-Cola was back – renamed “Classic Coke” – and “New Coke” was on its way out!

You can’t even buy the stuff, today – not that anyone ever really wanted to!

Now, back to us poor, old, Catholics …

Fifty years later, we’re still being set upon by maladjusted incompetents who – having tried everything they could think of to “sell” us what is clearly an inferior “product” – now resort to media events, insults and guilting – in order to cajole the faithful into accepting their damaged and often distasteful spiritual “wares”.

Enough, already! The only reason the post-Vatican II Catholic Church hasn’t already totally gone out of business is the awesome power and the tender mercies of God Almighty – who has obviously taken pity on the remnant of faithful Catholics – those who have patiently born the trials and tribulations of “New Church” – remaining zealous and doing penance – solely for the glory of God and his Kingdom.

“New Church” never tasted right – and it’s not getting any better with age. Waiting more than 50 years to get rid of what should have been immediately recognizable and apparent to all, constitutes an abject failure of Church leadership and a willful denial of the direct advocacy of the Holy Spirit.

This is not only a travesty – it’s a sin!

We Catholics are the victims of incompetent bishops, corrupt lay administrators and a cadre of ill-trained and poorly managed priests and deacons.

Our once great system of catechetical training and Catholic education has become a stumbling block for the faithful and a safe haven for heretics and fools, while at the same time, by virtually every measure, what today passes for the Catholic Church is almost everywhere in sharp decline.

We even have a third world, South American, Jesuit-Contra, community organizer, “water down the dogma” pope who can’t seem to make up his mind about things (other than not liking traditionalists.)

Jesus knew exactly what to do with this type of foul-tasting stuff:

Revelation 3:16-19 But because you art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.

Because you say: I am rich and made wealthy and have need of nothing: and know not that you art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

I counsel thee to buy of me gold, fire tried, that you may be made rich and may be clothed in white garments: and that the shame of your nakedness may not appear.

And anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise.

Be zealous therefore and do penance.

The Catholic Church has no “small-minded rules – but rather an abundance of small-minded clerics.

Lessons the Coca-Cola Company Learned
While the Catholic Church
Remained Dominated by Small-Minded Clerics   

by Doug Lawrence

It is a form of blasphemy to blame God’s Holy Church for what some choose to term “small-minded” rules, since the Church belongs to God – and God is utterly incapable of any type of error.

Rather, let’s look at those clerics – at every level – who have led the Church in more worldly directions – imprudent directions that were  often contrary to the laws of God and detrimental to the care of souls.

I’m not going to attempt to list all of the official sins of the clerical leadership of the Catholic Church, nor is such a thing necessary, since unlike Church teachings, the bulk of those offenses are indeed known and essentially understood by all.

The small-minded truth of the matter is the sheer audacity and unmitigated gall of those liberal, modernist clerics who thought themselves smarter than God and who decided that everything needed to change – and who discarded 2000 years of accumulated wisdom and tradition, in favor of their own, flavor-of-the-week, untested novelties.

When the managers of the Coca-Cola Company got caught up in the very same obtuse spirit of “novelty for the sake of novelty” they too summarily discontinued a tried and true, proven product in favor of an all-new replacement which they deemed to be more in tune with modern  times and tastes.

They were wrong – and “New Coke” turned out to be a total, unmitigated disaster – that without prompt corrective action  might  have spelled the end of the company. So, motivated by economic factors and the desire to survive – within a period of about six months – original Coca-Cola was back – renamed “Classic Coke” – and “New Coke” was on its way out! You can’t even buy the stuff, today – not that anyone ever really wanted to!

Now, back to us poor, old, small-minded Catholics …

Fifty years later, we’re still being set upon by maladjusted incompetents who – having tried everything they could think of to “sell” us what is clearly an inferior “product” – now resort to media events, insults and guilting – in order to cajole the faithful into accepting their damaged and often distasteful spiritual “wares”.

Enough, already! The only reason the post-Vatican II Catholic Church hasn’t already totally gone out of business is the awesome power and the tender mercies of God Almighty – who has obviously taken pity on the remnant of faithful Catholics – those who have patiently born the trials and tribulations of “New Church” – remaining zealous and doing penance – solely for the glory of God and his Kingdom.

“New Church” never tasted right – and it’s not getting any better with age. Waiting more than 50 years to get rid of what should have been immediately recognizable and apparent to all, constitutes an abject failure of Church leadership and a willful denial of the direct advocacy off the Holy Spirit. This is not only a travesty – it’s a sin!

We Catholics are the victims of incompetent bishops, corrupt lay administrators and a cadre of ill-trained and poorly managed priests and deacons. Our once great system of catechetical training and Catholic education has become a stumbling block for the faithful and a safe haven for heretics and fools, while at the same time, by virtually every measure, what today passes for the Catholic Church is almost everywhere in sharp decline. We even have a new, third world, South American, Jesuit-Contra, community organizer, “water down the dogma” pope  who can’t seem to make up his mind about things (other than not liking traditionalists.)

Jesus knew exactly what to do with this type of foul-tasting stuff – and he told us what we should do about it, too:

Revelation 3:16-19 But because you art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth. (17) Because you say: I am rich and made wealthy and have need of nothing: and know not that you art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. (18) I counsel thee to buy of me gold, fire tried, that you may be made rich and may be clothed in white garments: and that the shame of your nakedness may not appear. And anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. (19) Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise. Be zealous therefore and do penance.

******

Be zealous therefore and do penance, indeed!

What the Coca-Cola Company Learned From the “New Coke” Debacle

What the Catholic Church Learned From the Vatican II Debacle

Vatican approves new English translation of the Mass

Washington D.C., May 1, 2010 / 06:13 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After eight years of work, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has approved a new translation of Roman Missal that contains the new text of the Mass in English. Once the missal is published in English, it will be gradually incorporated into parishes across America at the discretion of the local bishops.

During the Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II called for the revision of the English translation of the Missale Romanum. Since then, the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL) has been drafting a translation out of the original Latin.

In November of last year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) approved the draft, which was then sent to Rome for the Vatican’s “recognitio.” While the Vatican is still making its final edits, the missal is expected to be forwarded to the USCCB for publication later this spring.

In addition to the new translation of the Roman Missal, a series of adaptations and proper texts were also approved by the Vatican.

The USCCB explained in a press release that each bishop will be in charge of gradually implementing the changes in his diocese.

“A great effort to produce the new Roman Missal for the United States of America is underway now among the publishers of liturgical books, along with the other necessary resources by publishers of liturgical music and catechetical resources,” said Msgr. Anthony Sherman, Director of the USCCB Secretariat for Divine Worship.

“Even as that work is underway a full–scale implementation of catechesis for the new Missal should be taking place in the parishes, so that when the time comes, everyone will be ready,” Msgr. Sherman added.

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Editor’s note: It took the Coca-Cola Company less than 90 days to figure out that “New Coke” was a huge mistake. The product is no longer available in retail markets, and the event is now merely an interesting case study in “Marketing 101” courses. Meanwhile, original Coca-Cola remains a best-seller, and the Coca-Cola Company remains the #1 producer of soft drinks in the world.

Forty-five years after its’ hurried introduction, the Catholic Church is finally getting around to correcting a few of the errors in the implementation of the Novus Ordo Mass. Statistics show that in 1965, 74 percent of U.S. Catholics attended Mass every Sunday. Today, that number is down to around 23 percent. In most European countries, Sunday Mass attendance (by percentage) continues to hover in the mid-single digits.

Maybe we Catholics ought to ordain a few deacons, priests and bishops who are former Coca-Cola executives, give them a modicum of freedom to do what’s necessary to turn things around, and see what happens!

Why should the Body of Christ have to continuously suffer from the worst (combined) management AND marketing that the world has ever seen … and wasn’t the Catholic Church “The Real Thing” long before Coca-Cola?