Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

The problem with most androgynous pushing activists and man-hating wives is that they understandably hate and fear what has hurt them in the past. Many of them were betrayed by an abusive “father” and/or husband who destroyed the innocence they were supposed to protect, and exploited their role as a means of self- validation and fulfillment. As if like a cancer that is carried on from generation to generation, some of it’s victims feel justified in destroying the lives of others who had become fallen prey under the premise of marriage; while others heroically dedicate their lives to never allowing it to take another victim.

Food for thought with Zenit’s article on How Dads Can Help Raise Strong Daughters:

Research shows that a father’s influence builds up self-esteem, helps his daughter to avoid sex, drugs, alcohol, and stay in college. What it is that a father offers is that he carries an authority in his daughter’s eyes. This authority is not ascribed to the mother, not that she is not important, but a father’s influence is different.

When a girl is little, her dad is her primary male love relationship. When he gives her something as a man, she learns lessons about men, setting a template in those early years on her heart about what to expect, to think, to feel, and know about men from there on out, affecting even her relationship to God, because Christ is a man.

Some of us have lived charmed lives, having no excuses for so often falling short in so many of the responsibilities in our called vocations. As this is one, among many reasons, to why we are in no position to judge anyone for any reason – but we are bound to take action against such a former victims to prevent acts which may systemically jeopardize the well being of their family members.  Although culpability may vary – the damage does not. For some, a membership into the victim hood survivor club is the best ticket in town which comes with a life time worth of benefits to include.

•  Freedom from responsibility.
• Perpetual moral correctness.
• Freedom from accountability.
• Sympathy without limits
• Justified in feeling moral indignation for being wronged.

It’s too bad we live in an imperfect world, with imperfect mental health professionals who do more to screw up imperfect patients than help them. It’s also too bad when some of us can’t seem to move beyond the self destructive nature of self pity and anger. We ALL live in a fallen world that quite often seems unfair – more for some than others – and it’s up to all us to make the best out of it by helping each other. It’s a pity when we get stuck in our own petty little world.

A request for prayers…

It had been twelve and a half years. At the time the decision had seemed a temporary concession for a greater good. If he had known at the time that it would not have been so temporary, he wondered if he would have made the same decision. That is immaterial now. He now recognized that God could not have been calling him to a marriage that would separate him from the Sacraments, even for a short period of time.

She was a single mother who had been severely sexually abused by her father and, or so she claimed, had been physically abused her first husband. This was the first woman that he had felt such a closeness to and she really needed him. He hadn’t understood then what this type of need really meant. He thought that he was being called to help her. Little did he realize that she suffered from disorders for which he could never have been prepared.

While he was, like the rest of his generation, very poorly catechized; unlike the average Catholic, he had a great sense of closeness and relationship with God while growing up. However, this sense had waned over the last decade. However, he had always recognized God’s presence in the Eucharist and this was something that he sorely missed.

In hindsight, he could now see that her denial that she had agreed to seek an annulment and have the Church bless the marriage after the baby was born, was likely a symptom of her personality disorder. He found that this was something common among those who were so severely abused as children. He was now just beginning to realize that the nightmare she was putting them through was probably lurking at the margins of their relationship from the very beginning. He also admitted to himself that he was not wholly innocent. The sins which had led to the marriage and marrying outside of the Church aside, he had adopted her button pushing acumen; something that she used for her confused sense of controlling the situation he would often employ in his weaker moments, for retaliatory measures. He realized now that this probably had the effect of reinforcing her errant belief that relationships were about controlling the other.

She had always seemed to want to be the best mom to her children. This probably was still the case but clearly this maternal instinct could no longer overcome her almost primal need for control and her very distorted need for self affirmation. When her out of control spending had required his getting a second job, the reduction in attention may have been what finally drove her to these apparently new extremes. On the other hand, perhaps this also had occurred, though less obviously, throughout the marriage. Nevertheless, the disordered relationships she now sought out and the ridicule she subjected him to with her new consort made her very public infidelity all the more demeaning. And when he had finally discovered her betrayal, her demand for a divorce now drew his children into his nightmare.

This was probably the hardest part. After she had told them that she was divorcing him, whenever he looked into their eyes they seemed to be pleading with him to make all of this insanity go away. This tore his heart out; he was their father and there was nothing he could do to protect them. He didn’t know then how much worse things could get. When she found her spending made a divorce impossible until the house was sold and she was unwilling to give up the house, he found out how insane this would be. This occurred that day after Christmas when the police showed up late that night giving him five minutes to get what he needed and get out of the house because she had filed for a restraining order with the false claim of domestic battery. While the casual observer could see that she really should be the one committed to psychiatric care, it was obvious that without the enormous amount of money that he did not have, the legal system had little ability to recognize and appropriately deal with such a situation. Instead of getting her the help she needs, she will rather be enabled by the system to continue her downward spiral until something even more tragic happens.

Given this turmoil, his preparation for returning to the Sacraments was all the more poignant. Attending Mass, he could not withhold the tears realizing that very soon he would again receive Christ: Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. He finally was led to recognize that he needed this Communion as much as he wanted it. His mother was there for Christmas and so she was there when he finally received Holy Communion again after more than a decade. Neither of them could withhold the tears of joy, if the experience of it somewhat mitigated by the situation.

It is not at all clear how all of this will end; especially how his sons will fare in the short and long term. However, he does know that with God’s grace now giving him solace and strength, whatever comes he will be given the strength to handle it. He is also beginning to understand in his experience of God’s closeness throughout this terrible pain, what is meant by the truth that God permits evil in the world only that greater good may come from it.

Please keep this suffering family in your prayers.

LifeSite announced that after meeting with Archbishop Flynn, the controversial priest from Saint Frances Cabrini Parish, Father Leo Tibesar, has agreed to remove “any language from the St. Frances Cabrini parish website that is in opposition to Roman Catholic Church doctrine.”

Removed from the parish website was a page titled a “Statement of Reconciliation” which bemoaned Church teaching on sexual purity and married chastity and misrepresented these teachings as a form of “oppression.” The statement said the parish is committed to “Publicly bless the relationships of a same sex couple after the couple completes a process of discernment similar to that completed by heterosexual couples before marriage.” The item had an asterisk referring to a note on the bottom reading “not being implemented at this time.”

Yeah, they technically removed the “Statement of Reconciliation” tab from the website, but what looks to be either a totally incompetent oversight or a blatant act of passive/ aggressive rebellion – the parish website continues to misrepresent the Church’s teaching on same sex attraction disorder while endorsing the lifestyle on it’s GLBT page. Although this may be an instance of the inmates running the asylum, it looks to me as the fruit of dissent not falling far from the the tree. In my opinion, this looks suspiciously similar to a childlike testing of limits, and as parents – the Archdiocese should immediately crack down to sanitize the parish and it’s website of this sort of scandalous garbage. As in real life, intellectual children respond best to confident and consistent parents who clearly established boundaries and who are not hesitant to burn some little butts from time to time, when necessary.

Have you heard of this relatively new apostolate? I had not, and but for an e-mail from one of the founders I might still be ignorant. After looking around a bit, this is what I found out. Catholic Radio International is a content provider for Catholic radio stations that started last May with an initial offering of three programs. They have now doubled this to six.  I do not know who if anyone is yet broadcasting these, but you can listen to their content online.

Here is more on CRI from Tim Drake’s column from the June 3-9 issue of NCR:

Jeff Gardner, formerly of Relevant Radio, and Catholic journalist Tom Szyszkiewicz have created Catholic Radio International as a way to provide content for Catholic stations.

“Historically, the Church has been at the forefront of communications,” said Gardner. “Whether the printing press or Vatican Radio, the Church has been about the business of spreading the Good News.”

Yet, says Gardner, when it comes to modern communications, the Church has had little if any involvement in television or motion pictures.

“Those have been the bulldozers for popular culture,” said Gardner. “The Internet, as a delivery platform for media, changes that. It’s a great social leveler and presents an opportunity to communicate with an audience at an economy never before seen.”

So, Catholic Radio International launched three programs in early May. The two commentary-style programs and one news program are available for download on the Internet.

“We’re trying to raise the quality of Catholic radio programming,” said Szyszkiewicz. “We need a Catholic response to National Public Radio.”

While their content is currently available online, the next step involves getting their programs aired on Catholic radio stations.

I listened to one of their program episodes on Ron Paul, from the program The Heart of the Matter. The programs are very professionally done and from a Catholic perspective they are clearly pretty solid.  However, in their treatment of Paul, I can’t help but offer some of my thoughts.  I would have liked to have heard a treatment not only of Paul’s not being in either the traditionally “left” or “right” camp but also I think necessary would be a treatment of shortcomings of libertarianism, which is essentially the same as one of the shortcoming of classical liberalism but on steroids. That is, libertarianism suffers from a lack of recognition of original sin and its effects.  Here is what I mean.

While modern liberalism generally suffers from an aversion to subsidiarity, libertarianism rejects subsidiarity in the other direction. In other words, while subsidiarity demands things be done at the lowest possible level, ultimately leaving to the individual and family that which they can effectively do on their own, it also recognizes that there is a necessary role for different levels of government and different degrees of governmental influence on daily life based upon the issues at hand. Libertarianism simply wants no interference on the individual in any manner.

Modern liberalism, if I might generalize, tends toward more and more control at higher and higher levels of government; except, that is, for issues related to sexual moral order and here they are very much in line with libertarianism.  Modern conservativism (which some suggest is the offspring of classical liberalism), is often characterized as being exactly the opposite of this.  On these issues, conservativism tends more toward libertarianism.  Again, libertarianism seems to presuppose that governments should have little to no role in almost every issue. In other words, it seems to see law as at best, a necessary evil rather than as an expression of wisdom.  Thus, laws should be kept to a minimum.  In our fallen world though, governmental instituted order, based upon natural law, subsidiarity, and solidarity, is a necessity. Ron Paul’s world view, as I understand it any way, is naive and simply a recipe for anarchy.

Any way, back to CRI.  Another critique that I have, and I suspect this primarily has to do with precision in wording, comes from a statement under the Masthead of their The Heart of the Matter program: “To omit information about an issue or an event is to lie.” Taken in an absolute sense, this certainly is not the case. However, from the context it is obvious that they are trying to say that the current culture of politics, media, etc. in which people intentionally mislead by omitting relevant facts that would change, or even contradict what is being asserted is in fact lying. That is true.

However, in itself, to omit information is not lying. The intent to mislead is lying (see CCC 2481). One always omits information in any assertion because he cannot possibly say everything about a matter that could be said.  One always must make judgments of relevance.  In addition, the difference between being wrong about one’s facts (which is in contradiction to the truth) and being a liar, is that one intends by his actions to mislead. In fact, one can omit even relevant information without the intent to mislead, without lying.

One could do this due to an error in judgment about the relevance of a fact or a lack of appreciation about how the missing information might lead to a misinterpretation. Moreover, there are times in which one is obligated to omit information about an issue. The sin of detraction is one in which one reveals true information about the faults or failings of one’s neighbor without an objectively valid reason (see CCC 2477).

Any way, I do not offer these as criticisms to CRI.  Rather arising from my temperament, I am wont to offer precisions and take opportunities to educate whenever they appear…which my wife hates by the way… Do check out CRI’s website and if you have a Catholic radio station you listen to, if you like what you hear with CRI why not suggest to your radio station that they pick up some of their content.

The latest Dappled Things is now on-line:

It is a pleasure to inform you that the Advent/Christmas 2007 edition of Dappled Things has just been published online. Herewith a sampling of the excellent pieces that you will find in the new edition:

Our feature for this issue is Fr. James V. Schall’s “The Truth of His Humanity,” an article in which he ponders the birth of Christ and the significance of the fact that he was not only true God, but true man. This article, imbued with Fr. Schall’s usual insight, is recommended reading for these final days of Advent. Through it, Fr. Schall wrestles with several important questions surrounding the Nativity:

If we wonder about the apparent slowness in spreading this Good News of the Incarnation and Nativity, we are tempted to question of the Father’s schema for our redemption. Surely, it could have been a more “efficient,” a more rapid, process. It seems to lack power and proper planning. It seems haphazard and not particularly effective for its apparent purpose, which had to do with going forth and teaching “all nations” the meaning of what transpired in these places.

Those who have been following the exploits of “J,” the arrogant if witty protagonist of Eleanor Donlon’s ”Magdalen Montague” series, will be glad to know that we have published part III: “The Return to Magdalen Montague.” ”The Return” reveals a dramatic transformation in J’s character. Readers will have to visit the website to find out what it is, but for the moment I give you his father’s reaction to the change:

First he goggled. Then he stared. Soon he glowered… and he glared! Immediately following this lively display of emotion, he commenced sputtering like a frustrated kettle, his face turned a regal shade, and he swore at me soundly, starting with, “Damnation!” and concluding with a series of expletives beyond even my ken.

Also by Ms. Donlon is “The Dirty Linen of Literary Studies,” in which she skewers the reigning vices and prejudices of today’s literary establishment. Here’s a short excerpt to spark your curiosity:

“I don’t know about you,” said a doctoral candidate in one of my graduate classes (a fellow who openly broadcasts his embrace of a homosexual lifestyle), “but this really makes me feel excited.” The “this” in question was a large photograph of a classical statue of a naked boy. The “excitement” of the student was neither platonic nor pertinent to the conversation at hand. . . . Such is the state of mainstream literary studies today–perversely obsessed with sex, highly politicized, pompous, self-indulgent, and solipsistic.

In a similar vein is Gabriel Olearnik’s poignant (if disturbing) poem, “Parfum.” Other important features include an introduction to the paradoxical character of Hilaire Belloc, an article about a parish in which Latin Rite and Eastern Catholic communities worship under the same roof, a beautiful oil painting inspired by the life of St. Josephine Bakhita (the saint recently mentioned in Pope Benedict’s encyclical, Spe Salvi), as well as more excellent fiction pieces, essays, poems, and works of art.

 I hope you will enjoy the new issue!

Wishing you many blessings for Advent and Christmas,

 Bernardo Aparicio

President, Dappled Things

In what started out as a potential blockbuster – The $180 million Golden Compass has, in a period of 10 days, plummeted into the realm of monumental embarrassments for Philip Pullman and New Line - dropping off an additional 65% in it’s 2nd weekend (rivaling the largest drop off in cinematic history of 86%) from it’s already disappointing opening weekend receipts. Not to gloat over the failure or add insult to injury, but I’m nonetheless, thankful for the flop.

When religious expression is suppressed for so long and there is no effective program in place by the Church to re-evangelize and re-catechize the people afterward, strange expressions of piety can arise. At least, this seems to be the lesson we are learning in Russia.

The Russian, English language RIA Novosti, is running an article telling of a “Christian” sect that is venerating an icon of Vladimir Putin. The article reports the explanation from one leader of the sect:

“We didn’t choose Putin,” Mother Fontinya told the Moskovsky Komsomolets paper, expounding on the first time she laid eyes on the “holy one.”

“It was when Yeltsin was naming him as his successor [during a live New Year's Eve TV broadcast in 1999]. My soul exploded with joy! ‘An ubermensch! God himself has chosen him!’” I cried.

“Yeltsin was the destroyer, and God replaced him with his creation,” claimed Fontinya.

Apparently they are convinced that he is the reincarnation of both King Solomon and St. Paul the Apostle. No one told them that the Resurrection obviates the possibility of reincarnation.

It seems that this is not unusual in Russia. The article goes on to say:

One of the most well-known sects in Russia has its base near the southern Siberian town of Abakan, where thousands of people, both Russian and foreign, worship a former provincial traffic policeman, Sergei Torop, as the second coming of Christ.

There are currently believed to be around 500-700 such sects in Russia, containing some 600,000-800,000 people.

If limited to the two, I think that the traffic cop sect made the better choice myself. If the article is correct about the magnitude of similar sects, this is not an insignificant number of confused people here. It seems to me that these people have the intuition that there must be an earthly manifestation of the Kingdom of God here on earth but they do not find it in their church, the Russian Orthodox Church.

If this is indeed the case, I suspect that it arises in large part due to the close association of Orthodox Church leaders to the former Soviet government, an arrangement that was justified by the strong Caesaropapist tradition in the East. This at least is the thinking of some commentators.

Of course, in the West we are seeing a large scale abandonment of the faith and often people resorting to different cults to replace their faith as well. Though, the greater tendency in the affluent West is toward secularism which excuses us from the hedonism that money makes possible.

The Sister Churches in East and West have an urgent need to reconcile and to join their efforts in order to reevangelize the culture. It is a task which requires a unified Church. As John Paul the Great said (more or less) now more than ever the Church must breathe again with both lungs.

Hierothee passes along this post from First Things blog. This is a quite funny “attack add”–well at least for those of us who are egg heads I suppose–but the poster is exactly right. In the 2008 Presidential primaries you can agree with much of the criticisms of ideology and policy presented but then you look at who it is that is doing pointing…

Fr. Raymond Gravel, a Catholic priest/Canadian politician who promised his Bishop he would NOT take on political positions that opposed the Catholic faith, went on record as defending legalized abortion as being a good thing. Yesterday he prefaced his credentials of being a Catholic priest prior to condemning a bill which would recognize the life of an unborn child as being separate from that of the mother. In short, he opposed the bill on two points – first, he felt the Campaign Life Coalition who tabled the bill was too fanatical and second, the fetus is only a fetus – which is only an “it”.

Upon careful examination of the text of his political sermon, it almost seems as though he dotted and crossed his way all the way up to a heretical line without legally crossing it – but if by chance, his message was intended to portray the image of a heretic, than he pretty much knocked it out of the park. I quoted out his short speech, deleting what I saw to be deceptive CYA disclaimers, including proclamations of being Pro-Life.

As a Catholic priest, I find it somewhat difficult to relate to this bill quite simply because the member who tabled it belongs to a pro-life group, the Campaign Life Coalition, which, in my humble opinion, is a fairly extremist and fanatical group.

I believe it is dangerous to establish a new law that would treat the murder of the fetus and of the mother as a double murder… In my opinion, this bill will open the door to re-criminalizing women who have an abortion, and that is not a good thing.

When a pregnant woman is assaulted or killed and her fetus is killed at the same time, I agree completely that it is an abominable crime. …I believe that when the fetus is in its mother’s womb, they are one being. ONLY when it leaves her womb does it become a child.

I think a moderate approach is needed. It is not by creating new legislation that we will successfully reduce the number of abortions and creating new committees…

One can’t help but marvel over a pro-lifer who appears so committed in protecting the life of the non-existent and speaking on behalf of those who never could, should or woulds and to seek to avoid and lower abortion ratess, despite there being NO death!

His plan to end abortion? In order that we, as pro-lifers, can save lives where there is none taken – we must also go to places where the Pro-Life movement has dared not go before. We must give something that is commonly referred to – by some – as support, love and understanding. We can also do something as simple as to “take control of the situation“, and fix other stuff like finances and relationships. Well who’da thunk it?

Well. Since I posted something yesterday along the lines of spiritually adopting priests, and since this was the next priest who saw the light of day on this blog- I am committing to adopt Father Gravel for a period of one month, with additional monthly options for each one there-after, for whom I will pray for each and every day, to include an unspecified duration of time spent in Eucharistic adoration and a daily rosary – I heard you  eventually  get quite fond of people you pray for.

Credits: Image and Story - LifeSite

So says the leader of the Evangelical “seeker friendly” or “seeker sensitive” Mega-Church, Willow Creek in the suburbs of Chicago. Most Catholics probably have not heard about Willow Creek or the “seeker friendly” model to church building that Willow Creek has championed and promoted over the last decade. For those who have, this probably serves as old news.

So what is seeker friendliness. Here is a good summary from a critic of Willow Creek’s approach. But in general, those who engender the seeker sensitive method are concerned not to burden those seeking Christ, with unnecessary doctrine (read demands) that will keep them from their journey toward Him. The approach is concerned to respond to what the seeker wants, the critics say, but this is at the expense of providing what the seeker needs.

Amazingly enough, the leaders of the movement may now agree. Christianity Today summarizes an internal study by Willow Creek which assesses the effectiveness of the seeker friendly model in creating disciples of Christ and the founder’s, Bill Hybels, admission that they made a mistake. It seems that the data showed them that while they had a plethora of arms waving in the seats, a lot of buildings, and a mass of bucks in the bank, the seekers were not becoming disciples. Not all agree that the study warrants such an admission by Willow Creek, though the previous linked assessment is by an admitted fan of the seeker friendly approach.

My point here is not to address the Evangelical church building philosophy, but to suggest that the Catholic experience over the last generation or so, at least in the US, could have told them what they took a decade to find out. Across most of the US, Catholics have been exposed to a watered down exposition of the faith since the late 1960s. I would argue that this has been a major factor (if not the major factor) in producing a large percentage of Catholics who no longer practice their faith, who have left the Church for other faiths (Christian and otherwise), and among those who have stayed, a tepid practice of the faith at best.

Perhaps the bishops and priests who were warned in their formation, not to discuss difficult truths of the faith less they lose their parishioners, might take notice of this development. I wonder how many Catholics who honestly look at the grim harvest that the standard approach of the last 40 years has brought about would have the integrity and humility to admit, also, that they were wrong?

Here are some articles from around the internet on the Golden Compass that you may find interesting:

The American Papist on the withdrawal of the Golden Compass movie review from the USCCB’s website.

Marc Newman on Catholic Exchange writes of Pullman’s sexualizing of children in His Dark Materials.

Also on Catholic Exchange is Pete Vere’s explanation for the poor attendance numbers for Golden Compass.

The Vatican dicastery is kicking off a world wide search for mothers. Following the example set by our Blessed Mother, is a campaign which would entrust all our priests to Mary, the mother of the high and eternal Priest, through spiritually adopting each and every one of our priests. The resources are here for those who would like to explore the possibilities of spiritually assisting priests with their self-offering, prayer and penance.

Through Zenit:

“In order to continually maintain a greater awareness of the ontological link between the Eucharist and the priesthood, and in order to recognize the special maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary for each priest, it is our intention to bring about a connection between perpetual Eucharistic adoration for the reparation of faults and sanctification of priests.”

The campaign asks that “a prayer of adoration, thanksgiving, praise, petition, and reparation, will be raised to God, incessantly and from every corner of the earth, with the primary intention of awakening a sufficient number of holy vocations to the priestly state.”

Can you imagine the possibilities if we actually pulled this thing off? I just wonder how I may look in the eyes of God when I point out the faults of others while saying no to the graces which could save them? Just a thought.

The latest from Dappled Things:

Since its inception, Dappled Things (www.dappledthings.org) has sought to provide a venue for emerging writers and artists to engage the culture from a Catholic perspective. In order to safeguard this mission, we have followed the policy of only receiving submissions from contributors between the ages of 18 and 35. However, throughout the past two years we have received comments from many readers and potential contributors who wish Dappled Things would accept work from persons of any age. This desire is understandable, as there are almost no other venues that specialize in creative work inspired by the Catholic tradition. Still, we have hesitated to remove our age limits because we do not want a situation in which more experienced writers and artists crowd out those who are still at the start of their careers.

After much deliberation, we have concluded that opening up the magazine to creative Catholics of all ages need not undermine our mission. We will remain committed to seeking out and publishing the work of emerging writers and artists, but we will now welcome submissions without regard to a person’s age. By doing this, we hope Dappled Things will become a locus of the best creative talent available within the English-speaking Church. We want Dappled Things to be a magazine of which the Church can be proud (in a completely non-sinful way, that is) and through which Catholics can offer an alternative to the often confused culture that surrounds them.

If “The Golden Compass” and “The DaVinci Code” are works that characterize the “wisdom” of our age, we hope that Dappled Things will become a venue where those with a more profound vision — the Tolkiens, Lewises, Waughs, and O’Connors of the future — will be able to become known and share their work with the world. So whether you are a reader seeking material that will enrich your mind, soul, and imagination, or a writer who hopes to share some truth and beauty with the world, we hope you will join the Dappled Things community. To submit your work, please visit our website for instructions.

Sincerely in Christ,

Bernardo Aparicio

President, Dappled Things

P.S.: Now that we are in the season of giving, might you consider promoting this effort by giving your friends and family gift subscriptions to Dappled Things for Christmas? Not only will it be a completely unique Christmas present, but it will support the work of those who would win back imaginations from the Dan Browns and Philip Pullmans of our world. Or would you consider making a donation, no matter how small? These two types of support are crucial to the future of the magazine. You can subscribe or donate online via PayPal, or send us a check, payable to Dappled Things Magazine, to the mailing address listed on our subscriptions page. Thanks and God bless!

It was bound to happen. Biologists have known for some time that pheromones have a primary causal effect on sexual arousal in the sub-personal animal kingdom. Since every self-respecting biologist “knows” human beings are just animals, then this must be the same with us. In fact, you may have seen the article the other day about scientists who were able to confuse (my term) fruit flies into being attracted to the same sex and back again by altering the expression of the gene that affects the interpretation of pheromones. At least in this article, the biologists admitted to not knowing the extent to which, if at all, pheromones effect human sexual attraction.

However, where there is money to be made, others are willing to assume that the same holds true for man. A Boston TV station’s local news story is reporting on a Floridian company out of Naples that is marketing a DNA dating service. They contend that human beings are sexually attracted through the pheromones of someone with a complementary immune system. The company, on its website, claims:

When you share chemistry with someone:

1. You love their natural body odor. They smell “sexier” than other people.

2. You have a more satisfying sex life.

3. If you’re a woman, you have more orgasms.

4. There’s significantly less cheating in your relationships than if your DNA isn’t matched properly.

5. As a couple, you’re more fertile.

6. Your children have a better chance of being healthy.

For a mere two grand, you too can can find your genetic match. Of course, even if there is some effect of pheromones on human beings with respect to sexual attraction, these promises are still erroneous. The problem is that they reduce the human person to an animal, and suggest that we are constrained by our biology as are non-rational animals. The truth is that while human nature shares an aspect of it’s nature with the animals, man is much more than this. So much more that he is not constrained by his biology. This is manifested by his rational faculties. In man, his biological appetites and emotions are made to subordinate themselves to these rational faculties of intellect and will. We can verify from our experiences that we are different from the brutes in this regard. While subpersonal animals flourish when they blindly follow their instincts, man does not if he does the same. Rather, he damages himself often physically, psychologically, and emotionally, but always spiritually.

Men may or may not experience some sort of attraction due to pheromones. However, attraction is not love. Love is an act of the will in which one desires the good of the other for his own sake. It is an act of giving oneself to the other without expecting anything in return. This is not biology, though to some degree, biology is involved. The acts of understanding and willing freely, occur in the spiritual aspect of the soul meaning that these faculties are not actualized by union with the body. Thus, they radically transcend anything of similarity that we share with subpersonal animals.

So lets look at the claims. The first can only mean love in terms of attraction, but attraction does not necessarily lead to a fulfilling relationship; and all too often it does not if the relationship remains primarily on the level of attraction. The second claim is patently false. If there is any truth to the claims of attraction at all, at most this might increase pleasure. But pleasure does not increase satisfaction in the human sense. Sexual satisfaction for human beings is ultimately found in a fulfilling, mutual giving, marital relationship. Created in the image of God, one’s sex life is only authentically satisfying when it reflects that upon which it arises–Trinitarian love. That is, life giving, selfless love. Pleasure is finite, external, and transient. Happiness transcends the individual, is enduring, an arises from the act of selfless giving because it arises from communion with God. I suspect that number three is false because orgasm requires more than biology as well; it requires a full submission of the female self in trust. This does not arise simply from biology but is also an act of the will. The forth is also patently false. It likewise implies that we are solely driven by instinct. If that is the case, then it cannot be called cheating because the word implies infidelity to a promise. If we are constrained to actions driven by biology then the term cheating has no place. Rather, we say we cheat because we tacitly acknowledge free will. The fifth is primarily a biological claim it would seem and so I will not comment. The last claim, if limited to biological health falls in the same category as the fifth. If it claims more than that, it again fails because it is reductionist in its presuppositions.

This company’s “product” may appeal to some because we live in a culture of scientism in which the scientists are the new high priests who have access all of the cosmos’s secret knowledge and they know how to control the gods of nature. Since this is the case, it goes without saying that most of us are not critical thinkers. For example, the premises of this company’s claims are that we have no free will and are driven solely by our biology. However, the very act of advertising and attempting to get consumers to choose to spend their money on such drivel assumes, in a contradictory fashion, the we do indeed have freewill. This in itself, should be a warning to the casual, critical thinker.

Nevertheless, maybe there is some good that will come out of this. The company says that women who are one some sort of chemical contraception are not good candidates for this because the artificial hormones lead women to be attracted to other people. Perhaps this could lead some women to eschew artificial contraception in favor of finding and keeping thier “perfect” mate.

In the end, I would suggest that anyone who would fall for this would be a good candidate for meeting the terms of Thomas Tussler’s famous saying: “a fool and his money are soon parted.”

A brand new Web site through the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy provides open access to Biblical verses with exegesis from doctors of the Church AND cross reference liturgical texts with commentaries from Church Fathers. The site offers six categories in nine languages in addition to the option of downloading the site’s content. The nine translations of the Bible, including Hebrew and Greek, can be read side-by-side, as can the Eastern and Latin Codes of Canon Law. A down-loadable version allows us to connect Sacred Scripture to the complete works of many Doctors of the Church, Councils, Encyclicals, teachings of the Popes, Catechisms, as well as commentaries from secular literature, etc…

Might want to bookmark this one. Fair warning if you plan to down-load a version onto your hard drive, it’s excruciatingly slow.

Update: E-mail support for documents and articles of interest for Bishops and Priests.

Zenit

Found among the “letters to the editor” section of the Medical Journal of Australia or eMJA, is a proposal by a university professor of Obstetric Medicine to overturn a policy of providing Government type grants to families who have children, and to establish a new tax burden onto any of those who go beyond a recommended two children family for what is referred to as a, ”greenhouse-unfriendly behaviour”.

What then should we do as environmentally responsible medical practitioners? We should point out the consequences to all who fail to see them, including, if necessary, the ministers for health. Far from showering financial booty on new mothers and thereby rewarding greenhouse-unfriendly behaviour, a “Baby Levy” in the form of a carbon tax should apply, in line with the “polluter pays” principle..

Every family choosing to have more than a defined number of children should be charged a carbon tax that would fund the planting of enough trees to offset the carbon cost generated by a new human being. .

This infers a levy per child of at least $5000 at birth (to purchase the land needed and plant trees) and an annual tax of $400–$800 thereafter for the life of the child (for maintenance of the afforestation project) (based on 1990 figures,4 and probably much more now).

By the same reasoning, contraceptives, intrauterine devices, diaphragms, condoms and sterilisation procedures should attract carbon credits for the user and the prescriber that would offset their income taxes, and lead to rewards for family planning clinics and hospitals that provide such greenhouse-friendly services.

Ironic,  but even more pathetic on how these intellectual types like to assume we are as stupid as they think they would like us to be.  Honestly now, the revelation of a doc-tor’s illogical, eco-facist formula on carbon credits makes among the realms of possibilities a Federal Government totally reversing it’s well thought out policy of population replenishment? 

More likely among the realms of possibility is an embittered Ob-Gyn who has a disdain for Australia’s current policy of re-imbursing families who have children and is hell bent on destroying it by any means necessary. In this case, he exploits his position as a physician, a medical journal, and the hysteria associated with global warming for the purpose of promulgating a culture of animosity and fear - where the divine nature of pro-creation is reduced to a level of being little more than destructive pollution. I think it’s obvious these guys have no idea of what they’re talking about and are well aware that their science is totally flawed and that’s o.k. with them; because any facts about global warming is totally inconsequential to the real objective of manifesting hostility towards those who do not submit to the lies of contraception and abortion.  So transparent and predictible are buffoons and talking points, as cultivating the culture of death has never been and will never be about the truth, but accomplished through simple intimidation and emotional manipulation to induce feelings of fear, anger, guilt and despair.  

 Source 

Slate staff writer, Laura Miller, writes an op ed piece in the LA Times in which she questions the literacy of those “religious fear mongers” who express themselves with a “breathless, marginally literate quality” about the upcoming movie, The Golden Compass. She admits that Philip Pullman has once talked about “killing God” and once wrote an op-ed piece calling C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series “ugly and poisonous.” However, she claims that these few comments are taken out of context, though she doesn’t explain how they should be read in context.

She says that she first met Pullman at a lecture in England about further religious education but then does not present any discussion that she has any more understanding of him than that. It seems a statement aimed at establishing credibility where there is none. However, she still goes on to claim that he is no dogmatist as evidenced through her second hand sources. She suggests that Pullman’s His Dark Materials series is simply an invitation to dialogue about issues and presents glowing praise from such figures as Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams and Donna Freitas, “a liberal American Catholic theologian.”

Perhaps I might take the same liberties as Miller in supposing more about my subject than my investigation warrants. Miller does not say that she has read the books, something she berates the breathless, religious fear mongers for not doing and still feeling that they have the right to comment. Nor does she indicate that she has any particular expertise in understanding Pullman or his stated agenda. One could also point out the targets of Pullman’s series are not adults who, arguably, have the capacity for critical appraisal but children who are formed primarily through trust in what is presented them. Miller ought to recognize this in her quote of Pullman: “Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever.” Nevertheless, the film and books are about exploring the meaning of life and dialogging about it. It seems to me that she may be quite guilty of the same “sin” as she wishes to cast upon her op-piece’s targets; ignorance of her subject.

As a counter point to the Miller article, Catholic Exchange ran an article by Marc Newman which dissects Pullman’s philosophy and how he has attempted to inject it into His Dark Materials. He calls Pullman’s project “bringing Nietzsche to Narnia.” In essence, Pullman’s books attempt to co-opt Lewis’ Narnia theme to teach Nietzsche’s philosophy to children . For Nietzsche and Pullman there is no absolute right and wrong. Ultimately, there is only your will to power that matters. The only thing standing in the way of humanity exercising this ultimate power is the compelling but erroneous problem of the Christian religion. As Nietzsche did in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Pullman sets out to kill God and so free humanity…or rather, the strongest and most ruthless of humanity, to create themselves in whatever image they wish. Pullman’s characters reflect this amoral/immoral perspective of doing whatever it takes to get one’s way, from habitual lying to killing. All sides kill apparently, but the only evil one’s who kill are those who also believe in God.

Why does Miller and her ilk bristle at what I would argue is a reasonable concern expressed by the Christian community over the attempts of Pullman to use the mass media and his fantasy themes to lure children to his own dark materials? Furthermore, why do they eschew Christians for expressing their concerns? I would argue that at root it is ideology. They bristle at the very idea that anything can be off limits, even for children…well almost anything, there are of course some themes which should not be open for discussion but every one agrees about them, such as God in school, the ability of those with same sex attraction disorder to be healed, etc. Ultimately, it goes to Pullman’s problem; the ability of anyone else to tell you that this is right and that is wrong. This is a major threat to the libertine culture and so it justifies a Nietzschean, do whatever it takes to get your way approach. This includes, employing prose with claims of being intellectual while the content itself is devoid of the same.

There also seems to be a special vitriol aimed toward believers in language that while expressing little in the way of critical thought is high on emotion. Though it always seems to be assumed that the writer is bestowing on his readers, his intellectually superior wisdom. It seems that so many, believers and non-believers alike, buy into the canard that if one has faith he by definition is not competent in employing reason. This is especially popular in higher education. So much so, that some kids who are exposed to this dogma become convinced that they have to jettison faith if they are to be able to think. Perhaps it is this error that gives those who write from this perspective the sense of intellectual superiority such that they feel comfortable in pontificating from a platform on ignorance. After all, they have claimed the intellectual high ground and so by definition, what they have to say, competence not withstanding, is unimpeachable simply for the fact that they do not have faith. It is ironic but if they were to actually employ the rational faculties which they in word idolize they would be surprised to find where the ignorance actually lies.

A month or so ago I ran into a lady at a pro-life gathering peddling a stack of yellow flyers, promoting a Christian pro-life film “like” Bella, called “Noelle” and while enduring my brief but painful inquisition, it took her no more than 15 seconds to convince me something wasn’t right about her and/or the film as I tend to get a tad suspicious when a disclaimer is followed by a but, as was the case of a pro-life advocate, who felt “we” needed to stop judging women who were getting abortions. I was then introduced to Noëlle, a film about a priest – girl – pregnant – abortion…., but we mustn’t get defensive – it’s Christian, it’s pro-life, it’s all about forgiveness!! She admittedly didn’t know the details of the film, but none-the-less, continued to walk among the crowed promoting it.

I admit it, I do get defensive and tend to over react to what appears to be this relentless stereotyping agenda of Catholic priests and the Church by the media, I just get so sick of it, so I called her on it. “But don’t be so quick to judge, it’s a Christian film and it’s pro-life!!” Look as I could, I never found anything on-line that could definitively identify this movie as being anti-Catholic, until yesterday.

In short:

If you’re in the Catholic camp, it’s a (1) anti-Catholic smear movie which (2) denigrates Catholicism .

If you’re in the NOT Catholic group, and you (1) liked ‘Bella,’ You’ll Love ‘Noëlle’ it’s a (2) powerhouse with a message to heal millions, (3) which offers Inspirational Message of Forgiveness and Second Chances for the Christmas Season.

Apparently, for some christians the only thing better than a pro-life film for the holidays is a pro-life film flavored with fumbling Catholics .

I’ll try to be careful here, but all this brings out an issue that came to light as we tried to bring together the pro-life community for the 40 Days for Life. We were optimistic and enthusiastic about including the Protestant community in the campaign, but despite our pleading among the mega churches and abundance of pro-life Christians in our fine city, we had absolutely zero participation. From what I perceived and heard, it was more important that it NOT be Catholic than it being pro-life, or maybe they were just too busy preparing for the Pro-Life event of the year – the one hour long Life Chain. Then again, if they came knocking on my door, would I be open to support their pro-life endeavors? I hope I would be. In the name of fairness, there were also plenty of Catholic churches who were not receptive of supporting the cause.

Anyway, I heard the movie stunk, hooray for Christian unity and Merry Christmas!

In what looks like retaliation for the arrest and death threats of a British school teacher in Sudan for naming a teddy bear Muhammed, American Evangelist Bill Keller tries to stir things up a little with his You-Tube video called, “Muhammed, the Muslim pig“. He proceeds to call the Muslim prophet a murdering pedophile and the Koran a book of fairy tales. In the end, Muhammed is saved through his conversion to Christianity.

You think God can use this kind of garbage? I don’t know, it seems to me like pelting rocks at a neighbor who is in need of bread. I believe this guy may be resigned to the fallacy that no matter what he or anyone else can ever say or do, will bring about a reconciliation with the Muslims. He’s absolutely right, we on our own, are completely impotent of having the capability of converting a human heart, as it relates to faith. It’s only through the grace of God that a heart may change and it all begins with our own hearts employing as much humility as we are capable and the willingness to submit to God and to others for God’s sake. We need to stop acting as though we figured this Christian thing out on our own as we pridefully hurl hateful comments towards others whom (believe it or not!) God loves just as much as he loves us. Pray for our priests and all of our religious leaders that they may lead their flocks with a humble and submissive heart.

Credit: Image from Liveprayer

This is the question a NYC abortionist, William Rashbaum, asks when commenting on the nature of his work. He admits that he has recurring nightmares “of a fetus trying to hold onto the walls of a uterus by its tiny fingernails.”

This is from a LifeSiteNews article discussing the high rate of “issues” among those in the abortion industry, from pedophilia and child pornography to sexual assault and variety of psychological disorders. It is not a surprise I suppose. If one has no respect for life of the unborn or their women “patients” it has to come out some place. Go read the article.

I wonder what kind of dreams the folks doing this have?  Just when you think that the things that these abortion “providers” come up with can’t possibly repulse you any further…they surprise you…