Author Archive

One of the two things that (the other being acknowledging the reality of the Devil as a real being) I have complemented Pope Francis on has been his stress on mercy. He has shown mercy in his dealings with Islam, he has shown mercy in his dealings with the Eastern Orthodox and has shown mercy in his dealings with others outside of the church.

Alas he’s not all that keen on showing mercy to the faithful within it:

In defense of the unity of the Body of Christ, I am constrained to revoke the faculty granted by my Predecessors. The distorted use that has been made of this faculty is contrary to the intentions that led to granting the freedom to celebrate the Mass with the Missale Romanum of 1962. Because “liturgical celebrations are not private actions, but celebrations of the Church, which is the sacrament of unity”, they must be carried out in communion with the Church. Vatican Council II, while it reaffirmed the external bonds of incorporation in the Church — the profession of faith, the sacraments, of communion — affirmed with St. Augustine that to remain in the Church not only “with the body” but also “with the heart” is a condition for salvation.

Not only does he reverse Benedict on the Latin Mass but he does it with immediate effect and as noted by Msgr Charles Pope is almost set up as a “loyalty test” for Bishops to see who will allow the Latin Mass and who will not.

The key quote:

this is the growing segment of the church you now most areas of the church our numbers dropping everywhere. This is the young vibrant and growing part of the church.

In other words Francis is being Basil Fawlty who thinks his hotel would be exactly the way it should be if it wasn’t for the guests who he considers riff raff.

My own initial reaction was this:

Father Z has a few things to say on the matter:

So, a diocesan bishop can dispense from disciplinary laws, both universal laws and those particular laws made by the supreme ecclesiastical authority (read: Supreme Pontiff) for his territory and his subjects.  Since the provision that the Traditional Roman Rite ought not be celebrated in parish churches (cf. Traditionis Art. 3) is a disciplinary law, and has not been reserved to the Apostolic See, the diocesan bishop is free to dispense from that norm!

Do you want the TLM to continue in your parish church and not in the garage attached to the rectory, a hotel room or the nearby Lutheran church that the local pastorette will let you use for a contribution? Then calm down and think.

I urge everyone to think carefully about how to approach your local bishops and priests.

What sort of attitude and language are going to obtain what you desire?

Consider…

Joy and commitment to parish life?

Bitterness and being unengaged except for that hour or so on Sunday?

What have I been saying for YEARS?!?

You can lose what you have, people.  Now more than ever.

So, if you are inclined to lash out and make a big scene to your local bishop or priest, then consider how selfish you look in the eyes of those whose opportunities you are casting into the hazard.

This is good advice but there is one other thing to consider and that’s our faith in God.

Either you trust God to do things right or you don’t. Either you trust the Holy Spirit or you don’t. Either you trust Christ our you don’t. Either you trust Our Lady our you don’t.

Pray on this Trust God on this, Remember the Christ was dead and buried, right up until the moment he wasn’t, Paul was the implacable enemy of the Church, right up until the moment he wasn’t, The Roman Empire was the implacable enemy of the church, right up until the moment it wasn’t, the feast of Divine Mercy and St. Faustina was suppressed by the church, right up until the moment it wasn’t, the Latin Mass was completely surprised, right up until the moment it wasn’t.

All these things and many others seemed lost until they were not. The desire to schism or to lash out is the trap of the devil. DON’T FALL FOR IT! HAVE FAITH!

Cuba Envy

Posted: July 16, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

If you want to understand the difference between the left and the right in America you can explain it as Cuba Envy is the perfect way to describe it. However Cuba Envy means different things to different people.

The people of Cuba are envious of the freedoms that the American People have to live the way they want.

The Left in America are envious of the freedom of the Cuban regime to exploit the people of Cuba and crush or kill those among the people who stand in their way.

That’s all.

Cuba is a disaster for the left and the Biden Administration.

Thousands of people waving the American Flag and demanding freedom being attacked by a communist state puts them in a horrible spot as people here can’t help but notice the parallels to what is now happening here..

China wants this quashed but they are in the same position as the US is with Hong Kong, too far away if America decides to take action.

That’s why the real story is the inaction. This Administration wants the communist government to survive because the people who finance its members want it to survive so we will see a few occasional words that sound good but what we will be seeing in when it comes to actual help for the Cuban people will be a superb display of inertia.

They will work hard to make sure the heel of communism remains on the neck of the Cuban people because if it lifts from there they will have a harder time applying it here and that is a threat to their perks.

The 2nd season finale of the Chosen was released on Sunday. It ended on a bit of a cliffhanger which was a bit of a surprise but it was very well done and a great setup for the start of next season. The ending also suggests that a good part of the 3rd season premiere is already filmed.

The quality of this show is setting a high bar for any kind of Christian television that will follow.


One of the things that I really enjoy about the series is the conflicts between the disciples. Different thoughts, different styles that clash. Many times people forget that the disciples of Christ were regular people who had different lives and different perspectives and that those perspectives weren’t always going to mesh.

That is the thing about Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular, it brings together different people from different perspectives in a unity that is Christ.


An oddity of the series is how much is not is scripture. A great example is Season two episode 3 which is based on a single verse from Matthew, most of the episode is about the interaction between the disciples and Mary the mother of God of which we know nothing. Other episodes like the Wedding at Cana (Season 1 episode 5) which is based on scripture also provides a backstory to Thomas that we don’t know, while practically the entire first season gives a backstory to Matthew before his call.

All of it is logical and even plausible and great television, but is not scriptural. That doesn’t make it bad or evil but none of this should be considered a substitute for actual scripture. Of course given that so much of the public knows less about scripture than a disinterested person would have known a century ago it might be a very important introduction to it.


As a Catholic I’ve been particularly impressed how Mary is being portrayed. Being a widow with only one son it makes a lot of sense that she would be traveling with her son who would be her source of support. There are several key moments that really stand out as a Catholic one in particular in that finale encapsulated in this image from the show:

The disciples are out informing the people of the upcoming sermon on the mount and who does Mary approach? The man who is seemingly the lowest and the poorest and the least.

I don’t know if this is a marketing strategy to attract Catholics of if it comes from the actor who plays Christ (who is VERY Catholic) but given that this is written by the son the the author of the very Protestant Left Behind series I find it rather significant.


Finally as you might or might not know the show is crowdfunded. Last week the cost per episode of Season three went up from 1.875 Mil to 2.25 Mil about a $400K increase. I’m sure part of it is a raise for the actors who have certainly earned it and with a regular cast of 18 in every episode (12 disciples, Mary and the women plus Christ) plus the incidental regulars who you want to lock up for the next five season I suspect these costs will only rise.

DaWife bought a T-Shirt but I’m holding back myself until I see how they handle John Chapter Six (the bread of life discourses). As my own Pastor notes almost all “Jesus” movies skip over this because how they handle the question of the Eucharist will determine if this series is worth my cash to support.

I think the real conflict will be how the very vey catholic Johnathan Roumie as Christ will do with what the very protestant Dallas Jenkins writes for him or if they will work together to handle this.

I don’t know when this is coming, it might be season three but it might also wait till season 4 but it is coming and will be for me the moment of truth.