Thought of the day

I do not believe that it would serve the Church well to go back to an attitude of ignoring the Liturgy.

Some thoughts on a Friday Morning

• There are times when I feel that people are made of salt (no, not salt of the earth type), and totally insist upon pouring their whole selves into wounds. Painful, yes, annoying, even more so....continuously happening? Of course. 
• I must say, an ignorance of the Liturgy is a deep problem. I'm realizing more and more that Summorum Pontificum was more or less, Pope Benedict XVI's way of saying, "y'all clueless and need to get your act together." Liturgy is not about us, our preferences, but about the worship of God, this is a matter of justice.
• Honestly, I really think there is an idolatry of poverty that has been infecting the Roman church lately. Most certainly we're called to live simply, but we're not religious, and we do not have a vow of poverty. Nor for that matter do secular priests. They should not be expected to live like religious priests. 
• I don't think it's necessary to solicit likes for pages, and various other interests. It is not necessary to publicly acknowledge everything. 
• Sleep has been difficult to come by...I might need to move countries. 
• Lastly isn't it interesting that often our greatest enemies are from within our own circles? 

Thought of the day

Is it really necessary to tell every single detail of one's private life?

Thought of the day

Blessed are those who are persecuted...

Thought of the day

The Truth itself will attract, we do not need to have gimmicks to teach the Truth.

The reason for the USCCB boycott sticker on the side

**A disclaimer needs to be made here, there are some fine individual Bishops, some I happen to count amongst my circle of friends....this critique is addressed to the staffers, more than likely because I do not know to what degree the individual Bishops are involved in the day to day process.

a. The giving authority to issues that are of prudential judgement.

Here's the statement on immigration reform

Two people can disagree on how this is best to be done, you can read for yourselves the position of the conference (which of course this is a matter of prudential judgement, so yes, you can disagree)...And while they do quote the catechism (rather make references), I respectfully disagree with the approach that the USCCB holds.

I do recognize this is a complex situation, and a solution really won't satisfy everyone, but, I think I can appease just about everyone with my own proposals for immigration reform, which take up much less than 12 000 words.

1) Enforce the laws that are on the books, or if the feds aren't going to (or don't have the man power to do so) allow the states to enforce those laws. Many hands make light work, it's a lot easier if more people do less than less people doing more. As the old saying goes, what good is law, if there's no way to enforce it?

2) Secure the border....use man power, whether from the states or from the feds to enforce the borders (all of them, not just the mexican border)...build a fence, just get it done.

3) Because we're broke, it's really not feasible to deport everyone...well, easy solution....give all illegal immigrants pink (not to be confused with green) cards.. This differentiates them from those who are legally here (green cards)...possession of a pink card does not allow one to the rights of being a US citizen, with the pink card, you're not allowed to apply for citizenship for 1/2 the time you've been in the US. (So if you've been in US for 20, you can't apply for 10 years)...and must pay the equivalent in tax returns based upon any salary that would be earned during that period. Those eligible for a pink card would not be those for whose visas have expired, or for those that have lost their paperwork, those are situations that should be handled on a case by case basis.

4) Criminals should be deported immediately, absolutely no exceptions

5) Streamline the process as to get the paperwork done quicker. Eliminate useless steps, bottom line with the technology that exists, it shouldn't take years to process paperwork. Have people working 24 hours on these things.

There are other examples, but of course, this is merely meant to be highlighted

b. Need we mention their support for virtually every big gov't program: Social Security, Gun Control, Support of gov't run healthcare, and the litany of offenses goes on and on.

We are by no means bound to agree with the Bishops on issues of prudential judgement....(While certainly their arguments should be heard, they are our Bishops after all, by no means are the situations that are outside the scope of Faith and Morals, bound to be listened to.

So next time you hear about "Immigration reform" position of the USCCB, yes, you can oppose it....

The above said, do pray for Our Bishops, they definitely need our prayers, and in the words of my former spiritual director, Ordination does not eliminate ignorance.

Pax Vobis

Is it possible for a morally neutral situation?

I don't normally read left wing anything, but this was posted on one my social uses...and I had to say something about it...

We need to start with a premise:, when there are multiple view points on various issues, it may be possible that no one wins.

In this situation, we see what I talk about constantly, an objective situation being framed in terms of a subjective application.

The Hospital is Catholic....meaning it's going to be influenced, (and hopefully practice) by the teachings of the Church....in theory it means the hospital will likely follow the following

• Birth control for the purpose of preventing conception will not be sold
• Abortions, will not be allowed under any circumstances
• The dignity of Life will be protected from conception to natural death
• Euthanasia will not be allowed under any circumstances. 
• Clothe the naked, feed, the hungry, live out the beatitudes.

Perhaps it hasn't helped that hospitals have not been consistent in applying Catholic teaching in their daily practices, but breaking the teachings of the Church does not make for the situation that is supposed to be normal. (Catholic hospitals being Catholic)

Now, when it comes to "birth control" access, let's be honest, if people really want it, they can find it. Strictly, I'm speaking of over the counter types, condoms and things of that nature. You can't tell me there isn't a drug store in the city where one can find these things. (As the law will not in of itself prevent people from doing bad things, as we all know in practice how this works).

As a private practice, the hospital does have a right to NOT provide birth control to its patients. (Insert arguments here). Is the hospital imposing their rights on you? In one sense yes, in one sense no. It may be a chore to go to a different hospital a few towns over, but there is no rule stating that one absolutely must go to the city hospital for that specific purpose. We do this all the time as a society. How many times do we go out our way for a specific item, because either a store doesn't have an item that we want, or the prices of insert place here are too high? Is it exactly the same thing, of course not, but since when are analogies meant to be perfect? 

Just as one's particular viewpoints might not be the same where one wishes to conduct business, most certainly the values of a particular business are interwoven throughout the store, hospital, wherever one happens to be. Most certainly my perspective, viewpoints are reflected often in my lectures, not necessarily because I'm trying to "impose" them on people, but rather, perspective, experiences, my Faith, make up the core of who I am, and as a result this is done in my actions towards people. Or in the case of a hospital, the Faith which it professes is interwoven throughout everything it does, and through it's very actions, what it believes is being expressed. That is to say exterior actions reflect the interior disposition of *insert x*

In demanding a Catholic hospital which professes the teaching of the Church to provide a person with something it in good conscience can't do, a person does the very thing that it accuses whatever it's patronizing of doing (imposing values on something)...It is a matter of justice that a hospital that professes to be Catholic, allowed to be Catholic. It'd be like expecting a Catholic School to teach Islam, when one goes to a Catholic place, one behaves like a Catholic, it's a matter of respect...Do not go to a Catholic institution expecting that your views be followed. If you do not like it, go somewhere else. 

It's kind of funny in some respects, society often talks about "going green" or "going organic" and yet pop birth control like crazy...Interesting isn't it? (Let me be clear to those that have particular issues, I'm not speaking about you in this situation, I am speaking to those that are using for the strict purpose of preventing conception...this specific issue is addressed here (paragraphs 15-16)

Most certainly a patient does have a "right" to be treated for whatever sickness they have, and most certainly deserve to be treated with the utmost respect and dignity. But there will always be situations where two peoples' perspectives/viewpoints will converge and sometimes there will not be a cure for this situation.

I'd like to give kudos to the Catholic hospital for being Catholic...

Pax Vobis