Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

All sorts of virtues painted in the fantasy or approved by the intellect or even, in some measure, loved and admired, will not keep a man from Our Father’s house: indeed they make him more amusing when he gets there.”

C. S. Lewis Screwtape 7

Reuters promoted a story saying that some Catholic Priests will defy the Vatican and bless same sex weddings.

The Catholic Church has a term for such people who defy doctrine for their own spin, they are called “Protestants”.

For myself I’ve always called them what they actually are: “Catholics for Mortal Sin”.

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All of this reminds me of the entire Transgender business.

The people who are getting bits of themselves cut up are mentally ill, but are so desperate to been seen as normal and are willing to go to great, even destructive lengths to deceive themselves in order and to convince or impose on society that this standard of insanity is a beautiful thing.

That’s bad but the real evil comes from the Physicians , the psychologists and the surgeons who know better who take advantage of these people for fun and prophet. As Christ said to Pilate: “You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above. For this reason the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:11)

There is a reason why the sin of Pride is first among the mortal sins. It’s because it’s replacing one’s own judgement for that of God.

This is why these priests are guilty of the greater sin in giving a false blessing and abusing the rights of the church than the couple seeking it.

For the priest it’s all about them.

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Is it not ironic that the couples involved do not respect obviously do not respect the teaching of the church by an open defiance of it , yet are apparently desperate to be seen to have the blessing of the God and the Church for what they are doing and have that blessing seen and acknowledged?

It reminds me of something that Fr. Z once said about the difference between a couple in an invalid marriage resolving to live as brother and sister receiving communion privately from the priest and going to confession if they fall and another defiantly going up for communion during mass.

One couple wants to receive Christ because it’s all about God, the other wants to be seen getting the wafer because it’s all about them. It’s not about submitting to God, it’s about God submitting to them.

It’s the sin of pride once again.

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Looking at this it’s basically the difference between two famous gay Catholics Milo Yiannopoulos and Andrew Sullivan.

Both understood the church teaching on the subject of homosexuality and gay marriage but Milo acknowledged and struggled to conform himself to combat the mortal sins he was inclined toward while Andrew fought to have his mortal sins celebrated and blessed by church and state.

It’s still up in the air whether or not Milo will manage to win his fight against sin or go the way of Fr. Corapi but as a person who struggles with is own sins I’d rather be in Milo’s place pleading with God for help and mercy and forgiveness than Andrew’s place telling God what the score is and expecting a prize.

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All of this by the way include a trap for everyone else. As I’ve noted Milo’s situation is much like that of the Tax Collector that Christ told of who approaches the alter with his head bowed saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’. The Trick is to make sure we don’t look at the Priests and the couples involved and declaring our righteousness before the Lord in comparison to them particularly for our own aggrandizement. As C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape puts it:

Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meets, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours–and the more ‘religious’ (on those terms) the more securely ours. I could show you a pretty careful down here.

That’s the same sin of pride and it’s just a deadly or even more so. Rather we should pray for those involved while also confessing our own sins and asking for the mercy of God.

As I’ve said many times. Heaven will be no less glorious nor Hell any more bearable if we find ourselves next to someone we didn’t care for on Earth.

The Biden Administration is only two months old. God help us.

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It has to be pretty bad at the Border for CBS to admit that it is a crisis with the Biden administration in power.

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I’m becoming more and more convinced that the guard and the fencing isn’t because there was an insurrection on Jan sixth (there wasn’t) but because Democrats know that they intend to provoke the right to the point where there will be one or should I say a response to the successful insurrection on the morning after the election where the left stole power from the American people.

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There has been a lot of talk in NE about how serious the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick are about returning to a playoff/contenting team spending 232 Million dollars (127 Million guaranteed) on new free agents in order to return the team back to contention.

I don’t pretend to be a football or economics expert but it seems to me that a $75 million dollar investment in Tom Brady would have cost less and guaranteed that the team remain a playoff team and contender for both the division and the AFC over the course of such a contract.

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Finally I understand that LeBron James is now a minority owner of the Boston Red Sox.

This is a very good idea on his part, as long as he doesn’t try to turn them into the woke sox.

There is a half century old management concept called the “Peter Principle” that states that a person will get promoted until they reach a level where they are not competent for the job they have been raised to.

When dealing with the current occupant of the Vatican one might call it the “St. Peter Principle” where Francis skills and approach might be effective as a parish priest or even as a Bishop or Cardinal are not that effective in the top chair. He may be personally holy and may believe but his skill set has not been all that effective as Pope.

However despite these skills or lack thereof there are still times when the Catholic Church under Francis reminds the world that they are still in fact Catholic: To wit:

Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to a dubium
regarding the blessing of the unions of persons of the same sex

TO THE QUESTION PROPOSED:
Does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?

RESPONSE:
Negative.

This statement included an explaination:

For this reason, it is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex^[6]. The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan.

And in fact it goes further (emphasis mine)

Furthermore, since blessings on persons are in relationship with the sacraments, the blessing of homosexual unions cannot be considered licit. This is because they would constitute a certain imitation or analogue of the nuptial blessing invoked on the man and woman united in the sacrament of Matrimony, while in fact “there are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God’s plan for marriage and family”

In an age where people are afraid to define “woman” the affirmation that you can’t bless a relationship in sin (hetrosexual OR homosexual) this is an earthquake.

But the left / media can take comfort in the knowledge that this is in fact coming from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and not from Pope Francis himself…

…oh wait:

The Sovereign Pontiff Francis, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Secretary of this Congregation, was informed and gave his assent to the publication of the above-mentioned Responsum ad dubium, with the annexed Explanatory Note.

In other words Pope Francis gives his blessing to this statement.

Now it’s worth nothing that this doesn’t preclude a blessing to Gay individuals who as the document states” manifest the will to live in fidelity to the revealed plans of God as proposed by Church teaching, but this didn’t stop CNN from twisting the words of the statement nor making blatantly false statements concerning the teaching of the Catholic Church vs certain Protestant denominations Then again given CNN being CNN if they managed to report it straight and accurately it would be a real manifestation of God miraculous works.

But the bottom line is that despite all their collective faults, the Catholic Church in General and Pope Francis in particular remain Catholic.

The left and media hardest hit.

Can’t wait to see the administration of that faithful practicing Catholic Joe Biden’s comment on this.

The public be damned! I am working for my stockholders!

attributed to William Henry Vanderbilt

There has been a copious silence from the NBA concerning slave labor camps in China, concerning a judge’s ruling that claiming homosexuality is a mental illness is a valid opinion and an ad by a Chinese laundry detergent company where a black man is given a tablet of the cleaner put in a washer and comes out “clean” (that is Chinese).

Now you can make the case that the ad is a joke and NBA players can take a joke and you can make the case that people have the right to an opinion particularly one that was the case the official opinion of the American mental health experts until the early 70’s and defend both of free speech grounds although the NBA would never do so if these took place in America, but rationalizing slave labor while at the same time your political allies are pushing reparations for slavery, that’s pure unadulterated capitalism.

China has recently announced that is will again broadcast NBA games and with few or no fans allowed in the arenas and US rating way down despite lockdowns where people would presumably be at home the NBA players who like the ability to make six to eight figures for playing a game rather than $7.50 to $15 an hour for manual labor jobs where being able to reach the top shelf is useful where most of said players would be without the game are not inclined to be all that particular about slavery in China if it hurts their bottom line.

In other words it’s capitalism totally divorced from morality. If the goal is to maximize profits for the league as long as laws are not broken (and none of those actions are in violation of Chinese law, they are at worst down with it or at best silent.

If that’s how they want to justify it, that’s fine, it’s on them, but I don’t want to hear a single word about “social justice” or how the NBA cares about right and wrong because the reality is these guys to a man care about their bottom line and making what they can while they can that’s it. That’s their prerogative but spare me the false moral high ground narrative.

Oh and a small note to Coke and all those folks campaigning against “whiteness” it’s worth noting that this position makes them morally inferior to the almost completely white textile workers of England during the Civil War who despite hardship due to cutoff of their cotton supply vital for their employment by the Union Blockade of Confederate ports stood united against slavery and either recognition or intervention in the Civil War.