Archive for the ‘catholic’ Category

Three Masses Three Days

Posted: October 31, 2010 by datechguy in catholic
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Whenever Halloween falls on a Sunday you get three days when Catholics attend Mass in a row.

First you get the normal Sunday mass, the holy day of obligation that all Catholics should be attending. (If you call yourself Catholic and don’t attend Mass, consider calling yourself something else or get thee to confession.)

Second you have the feast of All saints, November 1st. The day where we remember those who have come before us who have fought the good fight. The canonized saint and frankly the much more numerous uncanonized saints whose presence in heaven we do not directly know of. The Anchoress nails it (no surprise)

That is a holy day of obligation that I particularly love, because there is an intimacy to it. In blustery weather, usually damp and chill, the Catholics troop to mass and remember those who came before us. It’s like spiritually visiting the graves of our beloved. We remember the stories and remember where we have come from, and that helps us to remember who we are. It helps remind us that we want to keep walking the straight, narrow path that will unite us all before the throne!

And finally All souls day Nov 2nd election day, when we remember those souls in purgatory. It is a very important day and our attention to it is both charitable (helping souls progress) and smart (the holy souls in purgatory can in fact pray for us) and pragmatic (the day may come where we may find ourselves there).

Many lazy Catholics use purgatory as their emergency backup plan (I was once one) figuring it was easier to shoot for purgatory than heaven. This is a losing proposition as you start to make excuses for your behavior, it’s nearly as bad as the “once saved” crowd (I actually knew a man who was planning on beating someone up who said it was ok because he was already saved) All souls day is a constant reminder that we need to do better, try harder and as St. Paul said, finish the race.

These are three days where Catholics should take advantage of the season to contemplate eternity and to enlist help from the Saints who have followed that path.

Cathoics being Catholic the Horror!

Posted: October 19, 2010 by datechguy in abortion, catholic, culture
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The only thing that annoys the media more than Catholics being Catholic, is when the leaders of the Catholic church demand that political figures who call themselves Catholic live up to the name:

Arbp. Burke said that the culture today pushes a “cafeteria Catholicism,” whereby some Catholics pick and choose “what part of the deposit of faith to believe and practice.” As a result, “there has developed in places a false notion that the Christian or any person of faith, in order to be a true citizen of his nation, must bracket his faith life from his public life.”

“We find self-professed Catholics, for example, who sustain and support the right of a woman to procure the death of the infant in her womb, or the right of two persons of the same sex to the recognition which the State gives to a man and a woman who have entered into marriage,” said the archbishop. “It is not possible to be a practicing Catholic and to conduct oneself publicly in this manner.”

Expect the media to be outraged and democrats to try to use this against republicans, under the theory of course that a believing Catholic by definition is not qualified for public office.

Any reporter who asks a pol to comment on this should be instantly asked this question: “Do you believe that a believing Catholic who follows the tenets of the Church should be disqualified from public office in the United States?”

As for the bishop, as far as I’m concerned this is what you call Pope material!

Are believing Christians not worthy of the Washington Post?

Posted: October 12, 2010 by datechguy in catholic, internet/free speech
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I’m looking at Don Surber’s post concerning Tony Perkins blog post at the WP. He notes that the comments are universally negative concerning Mr. Perkins at the post.

Now we Roman Catholics treat Homosexuality differently than most Protestants, we don’t consider the orientation a sin (the Catechism calls it “intrinsically disordered”) but the act is.

So although there is disagreement here. Let’s ask the questions I’ve already asked once before on Twitter:

As believing Protestants believe homosexuality is a sin, does that mean that all believing protestants are by definition bigots who are unworthy of being in the Washington Post?

As believing Orthodox Jews consider homosexuality a sin does that mean that all believing protestants are by definition bigots who are unworthy of being in the Washington Post?

As believing Muslims consider homosexuality a sin does that mean that all believing Muslims are by definition bigots who are unworthy of being in the Washington Post? That’s a tough one, gotta be inclusive here.

As believing Catholics consider homosexual acts sinful does that mean that all believing Catholics are by definition bigots who are unworthy of being in the Washington Post?

If you answered yes to any and all of those questions, then the question you need to ask yourself is? Are I a bigot who is unworthy of being in the Washington Post?

I would love to have the courage of these Catholics

Posted: October 12, 2010 by datechguy in catholic
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When you hear about the 1st century martyrs of the Church you sometimes wonder if you would have the same courage as them. Nobody has to wonder about these folks:

Saudi police raided a secret Catholic mass in Riyadh last week and arrested a dozen Filipinos and a Catholic priest

Considering that Saudi Arabia is well-known for its highly enlightened legal system it takes a lot of guts to attend such a mass and even more to be the priest serving it.

And if you think the time of Christian Martyrdom is long over think again.

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