Archive for the ‘Church doctrine’ Category

Pro Tip on the Catholic Faith

Posted: May 9, 2025 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
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Let’s be very blunt. I have no idea how Pope Leo XIV is going to work out, I can make a guess or two but that’s all it is, a guess.

If he wanted to be a Francis clone he could have taken the name Francis II, he didn’t.

If he wanted to be another John Paul II he could have taken the name John Paul III, he didn’t.

Until he actually does something we don’t know how the spirit will work in him, what his past will say about him or anything else.

At the age of 69 we’ll likely have many many years to judge how good a job he does, it’s also very possible that he will be the last pope I see in my lifetime.

He could be a saint, he could be a disaster, he could be an ordinary average pope (we haven’t really had one of those in my lifetime) or he could have a huge footprint on the world and the church for good or ill. I don’t know which it will be. Nor do I know how much his experiences as an Augustinian & a Canon Lawyer (both positives to me) will effect how he does things.

What I do know is this:

He’s the Pope, the head of the church elected by the college of cardinals per the laws of the church. He can trace a direct line from his pontificate to St. Peter. He’s the man in charge and if you’re going to start attacking & condemning the new Pope less than three hours after he’s been proclaimed, you’re doing the faith wrong.

There is a word for a Catholic that doesn’t respect the decision of the college of cardinals: “Protestant”.

Let’s not fall into the spiritual pride trap that the enemy wants, instead let’s both pray that we avoid it and pray for the new pope because if you think the enemy has you in his sights that goes 1000 times for any pope.

For the record it’s my belief that a Pope has two primary functions:

  1. Keep the faithful on the right track toward Christ
  2. Nudge the unfaithful or the non-Catholic on the right Track toward Christ

That’s the job.

What’s our job as the faithful? This:

Be a good catholic, pray, go to mass, receive the sacraments regularly and love your neighbor as Christ commands. Keep being and doing that and you’ll be fine no matter who the pope is.

That’s the secret.

The Feast of Stephen and Two Reminders

Posted: December 26, 2024 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
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Today is the Feast of St. Stephen the first Martyr of the Christian faith.

To some it might be an odd thing that the very first thing celebrated after the birth of Christ in the Christmas Season is the slaughter of one of his early followers and one of the first appointed deacons of his Church but it’s an important point in terms of both of why he is killed and how he dies.

When people find themselves unable to assail his arguments for Christ he is accused of blasphemy and when brought forth before the authorities he recounts the history of the Jewish race from God’s call of Abraham to Solomon before finally declaring:

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always oppose the holy Spirit; you are just like your ancestors. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They put to death those who foretold the coming of the righteous one, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become. You received the law as transmitted by angels, but you did not observe it.”

And then the words that sent them over the edge

When they heard this, they were infuriated, and they ground their teeth at him. But he, filled with the holy Spirit, looked up intently to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

They instantly take him out and stone him to death yet his final words are:

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them”

Why because he didn’t tell them the truth to condemn them, he told them the truth in order for them to see themselves in the light of truth. To see things as they really are and act accordingly. That’s why even in death he asks for mercy for them and ironically one of those there Saul would soon become the messenger of the Lord who would spread the word of Christ far beyond the Jewish community.

Steven’s death reminds us that it is our duty to speak the truth but to never hate those who are trying to teach. He in his speech and death incorporates most of the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy:

  • Instructing the Ignorant
  • Admonishing the Sinner
  • Forgiving injuries
  • Bearing wrongs patiently
  • Praying for the Living and the Dead

It’s an important reminder that the following of Christ is not without cost.

The 2nd reminder has little to do with St. Stephen but a lot to do with Christ.

We have an Islamic Iman in Florida claiming that Christians are pagans while at the same time supporters of the Palestinian Arabs are claiming that Jesus is a Palestinian and Christians in Bethlehem are trying to use their position to politicize the birth of Christ.

Meanwhile while at the same time we have writers denying the Palestinian attempt to re-write history and rightly claiming Christ as a Jew while at the same time denying his place in history by terming the numbering system of years as the “common era” rather than AD as if there is no special event that this system is about. Taking the Christ out of the entire Calendar.

Using Jesus as a political football has been a favorite sport of people for centuries but C. S. Lewis’ favorite Devil Screwtape gives a warning about this trend.

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 meetings, 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 cageful down here.

Paris and Majdal Shams: Realty Doesn’t Care About the Left’s Spin

Posted: July 28, 2024 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine, middle east
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I find the spin interesting.

In France the IOC is doing their best to pretend that their insult to Christians by parodying the last supper with drag queens didn’t happen. They are exercising copyright claims on sites that show the video in order to suppress the reaction.

But the reality is there. The people have seen it Christians and our allies around the world have condemned it (although the French Bishops have spun and the Pope has been silent) and the reality of the attack, which would never be done to Muslims is here.

Meanwhile in the village of Majdal Shams Hezbollah and their allies where all in on the rocket attack there and boasted of it, until it was revealed that they slew a bunch of Druze kids playing soccer.

Suddenly it became “Rockets? Moi?” and the media was all over downplaying the attack, omitting the death of the children and saying that it was unclear where the attack came from.

Both of these attacks and their denials are the same.

Both the organizers of the Paris Olympics and the Butchers of Hezbollah hit the targets they were aiming and are proud to have done so. It’s just that neither wish to deal with the temporal consequences of what they have done and all of their spin is to keep those temporal consequences from happening.

But the reality doesn’t care, those temporal consequences are coming and all the spin in the world won’t spot it.

As for the spiritual consequences, we must pray for them, because those consequences are coming too and as Catholics it’s is our duty to pray for these, our enemies.

It’s not easy but it’s also not optional.

The Future Belongs to Those Who Show Up, Catholic Edition

Posted: May 6, 2024 by datechguy in catholic, catholic devotions, Church doctrine
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These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. Then many of his disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them,

“Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said,

“For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father. As a result of this, many (of) his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then said to the Twelve,

“Do you also want to leave? Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

John 6:60-68

Apparently the AP is shocked SHOCKED that the Catholic faith in the United States is being populated by people who, you know actually believe and follow the faith:

They often stand out in the pews, with the men in ties and the women sometimes with the lace head coverings that all but disappeared from American churches more than 50 years ago. Often, at least a couple families will arrive with four, five or even more children, signaling their adherence to the church’s ban on contraception, which most American Catholics have long casually ignored.

They attend confession regularly and adhere strictly to church teachings. Many yearn for Masses that echo with medieval traditions – more Latin, more incense more Gregorian chants.

“We want this ethereal experience that is different from everything else in our lives,” said Ben Rouleau, who until recently led St. Maria Goretti’s young adult group, which saw membership skyrocket even as the parish shrank amid the turmoil.

If the young adult group is souring that means there will be a future generation in the parish consisting of the children of that young adult group. If there are families with four and five children, that means that their children will in a generation fill the pews that the contraception/abortion crowd has been abandoning for two generations.

It’s simple math. People who treated the Church as an Elks club that meets on Sunday tend not to bother to follow the teaching of the church on abortion, contraception and confession. Thus their children don’t bother to come or don’t bother to get married and don’t teach their children. And they certainly aren’t going to be going to the seminary to commit themselves to a life of service. They will be like this seed in the parable of the sower:

This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. Those on the path are the ones who have heard, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts that they may not believe and be saved. Those on rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root; they believe only for a time and fall away in time of trial. As for the seed that fell among thorns, they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasures of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit.

Luke 8:11-14

And it goes without saying that their children, particularly those who might be gay who in past times choose the church as a respectable cultural option now in a society that embraces and celebrates open homosexuality have a ton of other options. (I’ve always found it interesting while 78% of the cases in the church sexual scandals involved gay men the media unexpectedly of course ducked that fact like the plague.) So who is populating the seminaries now? People like this:

At a time when U.S. college enrollment is shrinking, Benedictine’s expansion over the last 15 years has included four new residence halls, a new dining hall and an academic center. An immense new library is being built. The roar of construction equipment never seems to stop. Enrollment, now about 2,200, has doubled in 20 years. Students, many of whom grew up in conservative Catholic families, jokingly call it “the Benedictine bubble.” And it might be a window into the future of the Catholic Church in America.

I suspect you won’t be seeing anybody calling for the death of the Jews on that campus either.

I find it interesting that the article never mentions Mother Angelica and EWTN who spent decades working to get Catholics catechized with the truth while the Vatican II people didn’t bother. That combined with the liberals going elsewhere means that people who actually believe had the seed of th word planted on good soil, the result:


But as for the seed that fell on rich soil, they are the ones who, when they have heard the word, embrace it with a generous and good heart, and bear fruit through perseverance.

Luke 8:15

And it’s those faithful Catholics who are bearing fruit and giving meaning to their kids in the world that doesn’t offer any.

In the end any institution belongs to those who show up. The conservatives who actually believe the teachings taught those teaching to their children and thus their children go to church and pass those teaching on. The liberals who didn’t bother did not so they find themselves in a church and wonder where their Elks club went.

It’s simple demographics.

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