National Catholic Reporter Paganizes the Crucifixion

But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.

I've read a lot of insanity from the National Catholic Reporter but this one written by "Jamie Mason", published on Good Friday, really takes the first prize blue ribbon.

I’ve had more than one Catholic who grew up either before or on the cusp of Vatican II tell me horror stories of how they were taught that Jesus died because of their sins.

This was a particularly heavy-handed way for priests and nuns to lay an even thicker coat of guilt on impressionable Catholic school children. Because they were sinners, Jesus had to suffer and die to redeem them. It was one rendering of the traditional theological interpretations of the crucifixion -- that Jesus had to die to fulfill the Scriptures and that his death atoned for the sins of the world...

Jesus’ passion and death is a result of deeply-human intolerance, jealousy, resentment, hatred, and, most of all, fear.

Jesus’ death may have been the will of God, but it was also the will of both powerful people and ordinary people who preferred unquestioning loyalty to rigid, oppressive political and religious regimes to the profound challenges of God incarnate...

Though some thought experiencing holiness meant being acceptable in the eyes of religious authorities, Jesus said it meant being constantly judged and ostracized by those in religious power. Though many were told that experiencing God meant obeying laws and practicing empty rituals, Jesus told them that encountering God happens when we feed those who hunger, welcome the estranged, shelter the vulnerable, and visit the lonely.

Get it?

Christ did not die to leave us the Institution of our Salvation, His One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and witness how far we go to be obedient to it, His Passion and Crucifixion is a story about the oppressive intolerance to sin by political and religious regimes. On Holy Thursday, we are not celebrating the institution of the Sacrament of Holy Communion and Holy Orders, these 'rituals' are 'empty'.

She goes on to make a fool out of those, earlier this week, who were disenfranchising the deep theological problems and spiritual abuse from turning Easter Sunday into a pagan earth day celebration:

It follows, then, that whenever God’s creation -- whether it be human lives or the ecosystems of the earth -- is unjustly harmed, God is harmed.
Whenever we harm ourselves or deny our own goodness, we wound God. Whenever we allow religious institutions to rob us of our dignity as unconditionally beloved children of God, God is put into a prison and degraded. Whenever we deny love or compassion to someone in need, or allow injustice to prosper, we deny God.
Whenever a creation of God suffers at the hands of greed, or the abuse of power, or hatred or fear, God is abused. Whenever a creation is killed, whether through our continued ravaging of the earth.... God is crucified.

An earth day "follows" the emptying of the worth of the Sacraments. An earth day celebration in place of our Triduum is bound to the school of thought that our 'rituals' and Sacraments are meaningless.

When Christ asked Simon whether he loved Him, and asked him to feed his sheep, all He meant was handing out gift certificates to Burger King.

This crap is real and it is out there. It isn't Catholic. It is a schism.

If you are in a parish that is celebrating the earth, encouraging the flock to take pride on your sins, you and your children are being robbed. The Catholics encouraging you to stay in these schismatic parishes and schools have fled from them themselves.

Sometimes, in fact most times, the devil is subtle.

You are hungry, what's the harm in eating this bread.

The apple is sweet, delicious.

He loves you and everyone is doing it, God was crucified so you could enjoy it without guilt.

It isn't a baby, you will not be provided the money to feed him, it's bad timing.

As a parent, anytime something harmful has been said or done in front of my children, I spoke up to correct it. Even if it was minor.

The misfeasance of the local Bishop who has jurisdiction over this schismatic rag is truly breathtaking. He has the canonical power to strip them of the right to use the word 'Catholic', but instead, he permits the flock get hoodwinked.

Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.

Lucid Thoughts on the Circumstances of Leaving Your Parish

Some excellent commentary on situations in a parish that are a danger to you and/or your family over at A Blog for Dallas Catholics. Another great post on the same blog HERE.

Looking at some of the individual complaints – I do not think it out of bounds to recommend that people consider leaving a parish that is full of abuse and heterodox views of the Faith. To continue to participate in the life of such a parish, and to support it financially, is to endorse, at least tacitly, these views. Such a parish may have many other wonderful qualitities, the people may be great, etc., but if a pastor or priest is not faithfully transmitting the Faith, or if he is even endorsing things directly counter to it, I think it acceptable to advise Catholics in good conscience to look for a parish that will provide their needed spiritual sustenance in a manner more consonant with the Faith.

I am also tired of reading that someone who looks at the Church and sees a number of problems, both structurally and with specific individuals, as setting themselves up to be more Catholic than the Pope. That is a foolish, unthinking, uncharitable statement to make in the first place, whose application I think is unapplicable perhaps outside a narrow range of sedevacantists.

Let me just say one other thing. Some of the detractors have launched their grenades by saying it is petty to walk out over a priest ignoring the Feast of Easter Sunday to deliver a "do not litter" sermon. Being deprived of your faith, depriving your children of the faith, having the schismatics marginalize and destroy the tools to keep souls in a state of grace - these things must be sacrificed because we are there to dialogue with the schismatics. That is our purpose, they say.

Hello messiah complex.

Raise your hand if you've ever said "Please sir, put away those puppets" or "Please sir, remove the priest/principal/catechist who is teaching it is ok to be sexually active outside the Sacrament of marriage, use contraception" or "Please sir, validate Humanae Vitae, I've taught it at home but what they're learning in school contradicts it and they need the back up from you as the authority".

You know what the people left in the pews do when attempt that kind of dialogue?

They do exactly what Elizabeth Scalia, Mark Shea and Lisa Grass did. They turn around and attack us for saying it.

"What are you trying to do, start a democracy?"
"You are turning your back on Jesus"
"Who do blowhards think you are, a Bishop?"
"You're mean, uncharitable, unkind ___________ (fill in the blank"
"The crucible of Ted Kennedy"

I'm not exaggerating - Elizabeth Scalia once wrote about Catholics trying to dialogue about the teachings of the Church with Ted Kennedy as "The crucible of Ted Kennedy". The 50 million children, some of them decapitated because of laws Ted Kennedy supported, endorsed, protected, funded - and his soul in the talons of the vultures and Elizabeth Scalia can turn the situation into Catholic teaching and those who proclaim it as the boogeyman.

Meanwhile, the children who needed the affirmation watch them turn all on Catholics who want the dialogue shifted to Catholic teaching.

There's something inviting for them to watch, to feel welcome. Fill the classrooms with people who oppose Church teaching and make it a place to be pecked at and ridiculed for the religious beliefs your parents taught you at home. Kids love that. And, they'll really get the message when the Scalia crowd starts attacking their parents.

This is the dynamic left in 90% of parishes. This is why when you look around at a Sunday Mass people raising children have taken flight. People who have been deprived of the knowledge of their faith have found better things to do and the few of us who found the knowledge on our own - with the help of EWTN, John Paul II and others -- we are holed up in the parishes where the priest is teaching and preaching the Catholic religion.

It's taken about 10 years but we all now realize that what is left of Catholic parishes is down to the schismatics and folks like Scalia, Shea, Grass - who really don't want the fix. These folks have a gig, a story, a schtick and they're sticking with it. No matter how absurd it gets and no matter how few people are left in the pew, they really want to believe the fundraising fiefdom, this false church, anti-church and schism these Bishops have replaced the Roman Catholic Church with in America, is something they want to pretend hasn't happened. They want to enjoy their ignorance in peace and to accomplish it, they need to throw grenades at people who are pointing out the elephant in the room -- and the remedy for parents with children.

There is a God and we are not it. He will not abandon us. There is a priest and a parish somewhere within a reasonable distance who is flying under the radar in this hostile situation. Pack up your family and head for it every week so that your children will have the tools they need for the rest of their lives. Do not sacrifice this to have dialogue with strangers and acquaintances.

My only recommendation to staying in a parish is when there is a solid priest who is at the helm and needs the back up to make the decisions he needs to make. It is worth the time to encourage him to make the right decisions and to stand beside him, bind his wounds when he gets pelted with rocks. Give him the window. But if he doesn't make the right decisions - get out.

These are the instructions in scripture and from Christ and so you can trust that they are sound.

The Voris Vortex

A few days ago,our friend Jasper linked to post written by Elizabeth Scalia cutting Fr. Pfleger and Cardinal George slack while denouncing Michael Voris.

The conclusion she wanted you to draw was that there isn't a distinction between the evangelization of an apostate priest misleading souls and the wimp of a Bishop who would assign him to pastor innocent children at a school - and those warning people about those errors and faithfully proclaiming Magisterium.

"The Church isn't a Democracy", she says.

That is exactly the point.

When somebody has a hold of a parish and is turning it from the recitation of teachings from the Catechism to the drivel of Al Gore and Joan Chittister, righteous people do not let other souls get led into an abyss.

It isn't a battle of opinions, it's The Institution that guides salvation.

If Elizabeth Scalia wants Catholics to support the appointment of Fr. Pfleger to a school where he will poison the minds of thousand of children while directing her complaints against people who want the Bishops to reign in dissenting 'opinions', she is the one trying to make the Church a democracy.

Picture your parish as a ship with a priest at the helm, and all the passengers trusting his guidance. As he is steering into an iceberg ahead, you warn him, expecting him to change course. But he doesn't and so you warn the passengers.

Have any thoughts about passengers who would object to the warnings and carry on about the ship "not being a democracy"?

You'd think daffy, try to convince him/her to get on with us as we run for the lifeboats, right?

The controversy started when Michael rejoiced in the fact that practicing Catholics are finally leaving parishes steering their parishioners into hell. We are leaving parishes that have turned the deposit of faith into a mission of Al Gore and Greenpeace and finding parishes teaching the Catechism.

This is precisely what St. Paul advised us to do. Moreover, it is what Christ Himself instructed when He said told us to shake the dust off of our sandals and hightail it out of town when Truth is not welcomed.

As usual, one of the Archbold brothers has a very sensible round up HERE.

(There is also a good dose of the histrionics going on around blogosphere in the comments section.)

Lisa Grass, who did not want to listen to the Vortex but rather made a judgment on 'the name', has been saying things like she didn't want to be part of "a schism" and she is discontinuing her support of Michael Voris and Real Catholic TV. She has posted this which seems to indicate she does not believe Michael 'instructed people to leave the Church' but in other places in blogosphere, her comments seem to take the opposite position:

I'm not interested in being a part of a schism. I haven't watched this video. The title is enough for me to stay away.

But what is going on here, Carol, is that Michael is sowing the 'seeds' of schism with things 'like' demanding people leave over things that are not heresy. That's the problem.

Is it heresy to sit in a parish listening to drivel about picking up litter and being nice to people in the parking lot on our way out of Church while avoiding teaching the Catechism year after year?

You bet it is. It is the worst assault upon the souls of Christ's people in our 2000 year history. They have erected a counterfeit church. (Boston is way ahead of the curve. Cardinal O'Malley has put the final pieces in place for the full blown schism.)

It is time to acknowledge what we have on our hands, what we have done to a generation of Catholics and to Christ. It's time to stop giving them the money to operate it and get to a parish where there is a priest who is in communion with Rome, teaching what the Church teaches and keeping you and your children and (everyone in the pews around us) in a state of Sanctifying Grace.

It certainly isn't 'schism' to find a solid priest and parish for our families. I'm sorry to see Lisa getting caught up in the estrogen storms and gross mis-characterizations in blogosphere.


Mark Shea chimed in to say blogging blowhards are not Bishops or the Magisterium.

This is true. But saying it in the context of inviting people to dismiss an apostolate that is serving the Magisterium with faithfulness and courage and truth U really wouldn't rank among the smartest things Mark has ever written.

We have been watching priests say invalid masses. We have sat among our peers week after week knowing they do not have the tools to receive the Blessed Sacrament in a State of Grace and their lives are spiraling in the spiritual chaos of unworthy reception of the Eucharist. Our children are confused. We have been giving them our money to operate the schism which persecutes and silences priests who teach the authentic faith. We are sitting in parishes run by schismatic and this generation is floundering. The world is drowning in the spiritual toxic waste.

Does that sound to you like "standing with Jesus"?

If that's all I can give Him (and my children), shame on me. There is a Messiah and we are not it. The idea that we are serving the Divinity of Christ or the Eucharist by supporting the farce is delusional. Our presence is giving their false teachings legitimacy.

It's time to pick up and go. Find an authentic Catholic parish. By their fruit you shall know them. Head for the bunker. The gates of hell shall not prevail but we have simply got to get off of the boats taking our families and friends there and tempting through the gate.

God Bless and protect Michael Voris and his team. Lift them up in prayer so that they keep their hand to the plow.

I Desire Mercy - UPDATED

The ongoing discussions about Rachel Zoll's article have flushed out publicly the thrust of the theological problems we have been facing inside of our parishes, schools and community.

Discussion with Elizabeth Scalia sheds decent light on the counterfeit church being erected.  The theology she is using to warehouse her gig is "I desire Mercy", from St Faustina.   I wanted to dissect it so we can be armed for future discussion.

So you'd have to believe that Scalia, who desires mercy, picked up the article written by Zoll and draws the conclusion she needs to tell the world that Zoll is a bigot.

For the record, Zoll is not a bigot.  She in fact expressed to me that as a religion reporter, she is reading with interest and has has gained more perspective on orthodox Catholics and this has been an insightful and pleasant experience.

Scalia, completely out of tune with the spirit of the article, decides she's going to give her readers her judgment call about Zoll and the new breed of nasty, hateful Catholics who want their religion taught to them.

While trying to explain to Elizabeth Scalia that her clouded judgment is inciting the malice against Christ's Church that is intimidating people into proclaiming the teachings, she said that wasn't her intention but she was standing by her words.

Yes, there are a handful of extreme Catholic bloggers to whom Jesus might say, “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy. . .’.”

And, because they are extreme types, they will each assume that that line is meant for the “others”—

the ones against whom they burnish the swords of righteousness; the ones they lampoon, often, unto snotty incoherence"

That one line from St. Faustina can get played over and over in some heads.  But lampooning innocent people and their intentions to make Christ's Church and Her teachings look like hateful things said by nasty people  isn't exactly what St. Faustina was talking about.    It is taking away the teachings that inspire us to seek the Sacrament of Confession and the Divine Mercy St Faustina was talking about.   This is why the Sacrament of Confession is an essential part of the feast day of Divine Mercy when we granted indulgences and Divine Mercy.     You won't be seeing people Elizabeth Scalia is spiritually forming lined up on Divine Mercy Sunday because they are instead going to her to get kindness.  

Elizabeth wants to emulate kindness, humility and gentleness and we need this spirituality in the Church.   Each of us is animated with gifts we are perfected and sponsored and prayed for by great Saints who had these gifts when they were alive and served Christ's Church with them.

None of us are perfect with these gifts, she admits, but she wants everybody to have the same gifts she is perfecting and mocks others

There are also many great Saints who carried swords.  The next time you run into a Bush basher, remind them that St. Joan of Arc not only carried a sword, she led an army of people who lampooned people with them in a thing called just war.   People who use mercy as the symbol of their spirituality ought not to be mocking other Catholics whose gifts and symbols of those gifts are not the same as her own.

What St. Faustina meant by "I desire Mercy", was Christ's reminder that in our personal lives, when people malign, insult and hurt us,  we apply the virtue of "charity" to nurture mercy in our heart.

If you read the thread, you will see a comment by "Bender" that really demonstrates how backwards the unsound theology is.

In the scenario they are proposing, "wrong lessons" are taught to our children and "right lessons" are withheld from the person espousing the "wrong lessons". This leaves both people in these circumstances ignorant of the truth.   What is astounding to me is that they see this as the sign that they are doing God's work. This is impossible.

Maybe a little parable will help put things into better perspective.

There was once was a father who taught his children and his servants the moral theology of the Catholic Church. He brought his children to Our Lady of the Puppets because it said "Catholic Church" and it was animated with lively music and entertainment for teenagers.  He sent them to CCD where they learned the teachings of the Church are antiquated.  Everyone has sex as teenagers and if they need condoms or an abortion their god desires mercy so call 1-800-Caritas Christi or Partner's Health Care and the Cardinal and Jack Connors will fix you right up.  They helped many people at Our Lady of the Puppets to understand that they can vote for people who legislate abortions.   They desire mercy.  His eldest son, let's call him Prodigal, started visiting the local brothel, being licentious, drinking, partying, etc.   The other children in the house started to wonder if this was okay and thinking it looked like fun.  After repeating moral laws of God, the son was getting madder and madder at his father.

There was another 'family' who lived next door who was always out in the public square saying this man was mean old snooty curmudgeon.  Other people in town started being mean to the father.   Prodigal loved the woman next door.  She was so kind, he thought.  Prodigal kept comparing this woman to her own father.  Prodigal grew angrier and angrier at his own father until finally one day he did not want to hear what he was doing was wrong and left his father's house.

The woman next store was wild.  She went to the local church and gossiped about how the father purged Prodigal from his own house.   She tarred and feathered the father until he was no longer welcome in his community.  There is no joy and love in people like this, she told everyone in cyberspace.   Other parents who also teach their children the morals of the Catholic Church were afraid to say anything because the woman had influence and they did not want to be tarred and feathered like the father at Our Lady of the Puppets.  

One day the priest at Our Lady of the Puppets was transferred and the new priest was all fired up for leading souls to the Sacrament of Confession and Divine Mercy St. Faustina was talking about.  He dusted off the Catechism started teaching the people moral theology in it and about Humanae Vitae and about God's Mercy in the Sacrament of Confession helps us to amend our lives and be better prepared to understand the truth when it is spoken to us because it awakens our consciences.    Father noticed more and more people asking him for the Sacrament of Confession.  He was pleased.  But the woman was very upset with Father and told everyone in the parish that father was cold-hearted snotty extremist and he has to learn the meaning of  "I desire mercy".   The more and more the woman complained about Father, the mobs in the pews started swearing at him and telling him they were not going to give him any more money.   The mobs called the local Bishop, lets call him Cardinal Spineless, and telling him they were not going to give any more money to the Cardinal's Appeal.  Cardinal Spineless and his chancery bureaucrats told Father that he couldn't teach that kind of stuff anymore but to teach people how to rely on the woman for kindness.

People stopped coming to church because they can be kind in the grocery clerk and they can be kind to trees and plants.     They hung quarts around their necks for energy and power and they drew circles in their yard and walked around in circles thinking about the peace they are creating on the planet and how Jesus must be so pleased with them.

They link to the faith of Stephen Colbert and John Lennon.  

Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try.  Nothing to kill or die for and no religion too.  No need for greed or hunger.  A brotherhood of man.   You may say they're dreamers.  But they're not the only ones.  They hope some day you'll join them and the world will live as one. 

They didn't intend to whip up malice to shut people up and they don't know how that all happened.  They're just trying to be nice and the father of Prodigal and the priest who teaches the Catechism who is making people hate the teachings of Christ's Church and keeping them away from the mercy of the women at church. 

See anything familiar with Elizabeth's Scalia idea of "I desire mercy"?

The prodigals are being keeping from conversion by whipping up a frenzy against our priests and prophets.    They have replaced God in the hearts of His people.

Elizabeth and others seem to think we are trying to get them to go back on their 'words'.  They think we are upset and angry and have hurt feelings about the names they are calling us.   That used to work so well.

But they better pull out the Book of Revelation to see where it's going.   We no longer have attachment to whether they accept or reject what we are saying or ridicule or mock or slander.  We're doing it because our eyes on on Our Beloved.

n.b.  Before anyone reads the parable and sucks on their charity crack pipes starts to throw around slanderous assertions about my children - for the record - all of them have done none of the things described in the story of the prodigal.  I was referencing the story in the Bible.       Your poor judgment has caused enough people anguish, especially Our Lord.

Good day to you, ma'am.