Archive for the ‘catholic’ Category

Has Anyone Explained the Words “Streisand Effect” to Ohio Right to Life or Rep Max Miller?

Posted: August 19, 2023 by datechguy in abortion, politics
Tags: , , ,

One of the truths of life is that everyone makes occasionally makes mistakes, and when one does the best way to deal with it is to acknowledge it and move on.

Such was seemingly the case in Ohio when Rep Max Miller (R-OH) inexplicitly had a hissy fit when a woman with barely over 7000 X (twitter) followers tweeted out one of the most basic tenants of Christianity:

Congressman Miller treated this as an anti sematic remark rather than as a Christian professing Christianity and demanded she pull the tweet. As you might guess the national pushback was rather swift and so bad that even Illan Omar was dunking on him so he apologized leaving up the original tweet as it preserves the record.

That was seemingly it, one day story at best, stupid mistake quick correction down the memory hole it goes and a potential threat to his seat in congress gone.

Alas, it wasn’t that simple you see the lady in question above works for Ohio Right to Life and the congressman’s wife is on the board of that august body and while they were unable to create a victory in a critical referendum this month they were more than capable to getting vengeance for the unspeakable crime of causing him grief.

I can think of no thing that is more likely to encourage a GOP primary challenge to congressman Miller nor cause grief to the primary campaign of his wife’s father who happens to be running for Senate in the state than this.

Furthermore given Ohio right to life’s failure in their last campaign a move that divides and upsets their donor base is about as stupid as you can get.

Already the news stories have begun, the daily caller quoting the republic sentinel:

Marbach refused to delete the post from social media, noting in a response to Miller that Jesus said he is “the way, the truth, and the life” without whom one cannot come to the Father. “No one has hope outside of Jesus Christ and every knee will bow one day,” she added.

Right to life tried to get her to quit on their own she declined:

Marbach said in additional comments to The Sentinel that she trusts “God will continue to use this situation to bring glory and honor to his name.” She expressed hope that Ohio Right to Life would defend the lives of preborn babies in the state without political entanglements.

I suspect that God will take care of her, after all this is exactly what Christ predicted:

If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you,  ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin; but as it is they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me also hates my Father.

If I had not done works among them that no one else ever did, they would not have sin; but as it is, they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But in order that the word written in their law might be fulfilled, ‘They hated me without cause.’ “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me.

John 15:18-16:2

As much as this will be a pain to congressman’s Miller whose damage control has been undone it’s going to be a whole lot worse for Ohio Right to Life which is apparently more interested in cheap political infighting and using cancel culture for their own ends than the lives of the unborn.

I’d not want to be part of their fundraising arm after today.

The Easiest Way for Any Christian To Gain Admission to Hell Without Realizing It…

Posted: August 17, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
Tags: , ,

…is to wish and pray for God’s mercy on themselves while at the same time wishing and praying for God’s justice on others.

Because if you are doing that it means you are forgetting this key line from the Our Father/The Lord’s Prayer.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

I suspect that no line in general prayer is more consistently ignored by those pray it than this is.


Serious Irony Alert Rapture and Bronny

Posted: July 25, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
Tags: , , ,

Today I was thinking on what I was going to write when I saw yet another story about people thinking the “end times” or “rapture” will be this year.

Back in the 1970s, I used to joke that someone was going to write a book titled, Jesus Is Coming Back in the 1970s, only to publish a new and revised edition a few years later titled, Jesus Is Coming in the 1980s.

Little did I know that on January 1, 1988, Edgar Whisenant, a former NASA engineer, would publish 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. Hundreds of thousands of books were sold or given away, creating a national frenzy.

There is actually a long history of this (think the Millerites who became the 7th day Adventists when they stopped predicting the day the world would end) you would think that Christ explicitly saying:

But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

Matt 24:36

would have put an end to this but it hasn’t so the foolish and the grifters continue to play “the end is near” game.

When I saw that piece I tweeted out what I always say to those preparing for the end times and the great tribulation:

If you are practicing your faith properly then the end times will have no fear. So stop worrying about the world’s end times and live the type of life that prepares you for your own.

Less than one minute after I tweeted that out News broke:

For those who don’t know Bronny James is the son of LeBron James the greatest playing in NBA history who is currently active (I’d take Bill Russell over him as the Goat). His father is one of the richest and most famous athletes in the world. Thanks to his skill and hard word he has achieved great things ins sport and was in the posittion to give his family all the best of everything. It’s been widely assumed that he was staying in the NBA so that he could play his final year with his son after he was drafted.

I suspect he would give all of that up to reverse today’s breaking news.

I wish the best for young Mr. James and his family but let this be a big reminder that not a single one of us, no matter how rich, how connected or how famous is promised tomorrow so the best advice in the world remains this: Get Baptized, Go to confession! Get yourself right with God today because it may be too late tomorrow.

Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven.

It’s [Bracket away Jesus Talking About Hell] week at your Local Catholic Parish

Posted: July 23, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine, culture
Tags: , , , ,

Fr Lou: Hmm. Sadly, movies and TV have filled our heads with images that are largely metaphorical. Not meant to be taken literally. I’m not here to hurt you, Edward. I’m here to help you. To put you at your ease. Make sure you’re comfortable. Personally, I’ve never met a demon. I’ve never been part of an exorcism, nor do I expect to be. Many of the things that bother us are just our own fears and disordered thoughts.

Nefarious (though James): [Suddenly calm] So… You… You don’t consider demonic possession to be a possibility?

Fr Lou: Our understanding has evolved beyond that.

Nefarious: Huh. Well, I appreciate you telling me that. I feel… I feel much better. And, Lou, I was wrong about you. I should’ve had you come and visit sooner.

Fr. Lou: I am glad that we’re all getting along. Would you like me to stay?

Nefarious: No, we’re done.

Nefarious 2023

One of the most basic teachings of the church is that the mass is the mass and the sacraments are the sacraments even if the priest who preforms the mass or delivers the sacraments is a lukewarm, priest or a bad priest or even an unbelieving priest. Thus the mass obligation doesn’t disappear if the priest you have isn’t up to snuff, one just has to be careful to know their catechism so as to accept the sacraments and any should teaching while reject anything contrary to church teaching that might be thrown in.

But sometimes the problem isn’t so much what is preached being contrary but what is not taught at all and the next two weeks are a good measuring stick along those lines:

Today’s Gospel for example is the parable of the sower and the weeds:

Jesus proposed another parable to the crowds, saying:

“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest;
then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”‘”

Matt 13:24-30

Now that passage above will be read in every catholic parish in the nation, but the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has, for some reason, made the rest of the full Gospel scheduled for this week “optional”:

He proposed another parable to them.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.'”

He spoke to them another parable.

“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch was leavened.”

All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He spoke to them only in parables, to fulfill what had been said through the prophet:


I will open my mouth in parables,
I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation
of the world.

Then, dismissing the crowds, he went into the house. His disciples approached him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply,

“He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

Matt 13:31-43

What jumps out at you right away in the part of the Gospel that is “optional” is Jesus explicably talking about those who “cause others to sin and evil doers” being thrown into the fiery furnace, in short, Hell.

So the USCCB is giving parishes the option to duck away from a core teaching of the church. Why? Perhaps because it might be off putting to those who sin or cause others to sin (think of all those pro-abort Catholics out there) who might otherwise think twice and want to give pastors the option to skip it.

“But DaTechGuy” you might say, “It’s the middle of summer and it’s a long gospel. If it’s a hot day perhaps a shorter Gospel might be better in a church without AC.” Well one might give that innocent interpretation to such options , that is if next weeks’ Gospel didn’t do the same thing with the following passage from Matthew’s Gospel mandatory on the joys of the kingdom of heaven:

Jesus said to his disciples:

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”

Matt 13:44-46

And this part about eternal punishment “optional”:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. “Do you understand all these things?”

They answered, “Yes.” And he replied,

“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”

Matt 13:47-52

Those extra five verses doesn’t make it a very long Gospel, but they again explicitly talk about damnation of the wicked and the USCCB has again made them “optional” in this post Vatican II world.

I’m sure there are many Fr. Lou’s out there who aren’t comfortable reading that Gospel or teaching about it because it challenges the congregation to see themselves in the light of truth and that just won’t do. I guarantee you that those are the parishes that have short or non-existent lines for confession every week because nobody there ever sins and has to worry about hell.

My advice is this: if you find yourself in such a parish, find another if you’re able. If you’re not then go to Mass and take the sacraments where you are but make it a point to read all the bracketed text and find a good solid outlet either online or on radio or TV with solid Catholic teaching to feed your soul.

Whoever has ears let them hear.

Older Entries
Newer Entries