Posts Tagged ‘catholic doctrine’

I’d Like to Expand on Ed’s Excellent Piece at Hotair Concerning Francis, Homosexuality and Sin in the Catholic Church

Posted: January 26, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, catholic devotions
Tags: , , , , ,

I know it’s redundant to say that a piece by Ed Morrissey is excellent but this particular piece at Hotair titled:

Pope Francis: It’s no crime to be gay — but …

is worth expanding on.

Let’s start at the end rather than at the beginning because he brought up an excellent point that a lot of people forgot in the marriage family debate concerning the Church in Africa:

The AP suggests this is more prevalent in Africa, which is also where the Catholic Church is experiencing its most dynamic growth. The bishops from Africa have argued hard for a firm defense of church teachings on family, and have many good reasons for doing so. As at least one told me directly while I covered the Synod on the Family at the Vatican in 2014, any erosion of that position on same-sex relationships would be disastrous in Africa and the efforts to end polygamy among other religious and secular populations.

He quotes John Allen on the subject:

When cardinals from around the world met in Rome last February [2013] to set the table for the October synod on the family, some prelates from non-Western cultures hinted that polygamy may drive them to oppose any change in the ban on divorced and remarried Catholics receiving the sacraments.

Their argument went like this: The Catholic Church has been telling people in polygamous marriages that they have to change because marriage means one man and one woman, for life. If the Church softens that teaching for the divorced and remarried, it might face pressure to cut a deal for polygamists, too. …

“They’ve been telling people that if you come into the church, you’ve got to choose one wife,” DiNardo said. “If you suddenly change that, couldn’t [people in polygamous marriages] say, ‘Why can’t you give me a break, too?’ ”

The thing is Christ when talking about marriage being between one man and women & inviolate was rather explicit on this point:

Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” He said in reply,

“Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”

They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss (her)?” He said to them,

“Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.”

[His] disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” He answered,

“Not all can accept [this] word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”

Matthew 19:3-13 Underline emphasis mine

That underlined portion I highlighted concerning “some being incapable of marriage because they were born that way “ is key to understanding the Catholic position on Homosexuality and understanding Francis’ distinction between “crime” & “sin”

“Being homosexual is not a crime. It’s not a crime. Yes, it’s a sin. Well, yes, but let’s make the distinction first between sin and crime.”

Ed expresses the church’s position on this very plainly

Nothing about this statement is new. To speak in strictly technical terms, Francis errs to the harsh side (clearly inadvertently), as the Catholic Church’s catechism doesn’t make same-sex orientation a sin in itself. Same-sex actions are sinful, as are any sexual relations outside of a marriage based on the traditional model of one-man-one-woman. Sexual activity is blessed within such marriages (if consensual) and are sins in any other context. This is why the catechism urges Catholics to welcome gays as brothers and sisters, so that they can also hear the Word and repent of their sins, the way the rest of us do — and as long as they repent and resolve to sin no more, they can access all of the sacraments. Repenting means either engaging in a sacramental marriage and monogamy, or choosing celibacy … again, just as it does for every other Catholic.

It’s the repent-and-sin-no-more issue that is the sticking point, just as it is for all of us.

Emphasis mine

And that’s where the rubber really meets the road here.

As a person who struggles with habitual sin let me tell you it’s not easy. It’s a fight, and every fall is not only painful but is embarrassing when you have to go back to the priest to confess the same sins that you’ve resolve to avoid again and again. Victory can take years and like a person in AA you’re always subject to relapse.

However some have decided that it’s much easier to redefine sin rather than fighting it. If suddenly something is no longer sinful, you can do it with impunity! (I suspect there are more than a few people who might have considered being catholic clergy when young who left for liberal protestant sects because they have redefined their sins and even celebrated them, even if God has not) Why do all that work to repent when you can by fiat suddenly decide sin isn’t sin.

And let me note that this attitude isn’t just about sexual sin as illustrated by American’s society sudden embrace of theft as not a big deal if done in the right cities by the right people.

How should this be approached: Very simply as Ed notes:

The 2014 synod left many of these issues dangling, at least in the eyes of activists on all sides. It ended with Francis, then in the middle of his second year as Pope, with a declaration of welcome to all regardless of family status, but again clearly on the terms of Church teaching.

Or to put it another way, a person in a state of Mortal Sin, even continual Mortal sin should not skip mass because adding an additional mortal sin to the pile doesn’t help one toward salvation.

So how should the church handle homosexuality or even those in a gay marriage who want to go to church or receive the sacraments? Well for me the answer comes from apply what Fr. John Zuhlsdorf said when asked: In what scenario would you give Holy Communion to the divorced and remarried? Job one is for the priest to educate the people involved:

If a couple who are civilly married, etc. etc., have entered into a process with a priest who has helped them to see what their situation truly is (according to the teaching of Christ and His Church), then they know that what they are doing is wrong.  They know that they are in an adulterous union and that they have committed mortal sins.  Therefore, they know that are not properly disposed to receive Communion.  They also know that Communion is not “the white thing”.

That is what the priest must help them to understand.  That is his duty, at the peril of his own immortal soul and theirs.

That duty of a priest to his own soul is something often ignored but it all comes down to this

If they really get the Eucharist, with the full implications of receiving as Paul describes in 1 Cor 11:27 (“Therefore whosoever shall eat this bread, or drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and of the blood of the Lord.”), and if they really get the Four Last Things, then … would they really want to put at risk their eternal salvation by sacrilegious reception?

If they have been working with a sound priest who helps them to understand what mortal sin is and what matrimony is according to the Church’s teachings – BECAUSE THAT’S HIS JOB! – would they really want to receive Communion in their irregular state?

Or course there may be times when they fail in their determination to live in continence and they have sexual relations.

What then?

Simple.  They go to confession and start over with a firm purpose of amendment.

That’s what we all do when we sin in any way.  We go to confession with a firm purpose of amendment and start over with God’s help.  In some Amoris scenario, they might have to live in a near occasion of sin, but for the sake of care of children, etc., they have to bear their Cross.

However, there is a rock solid principle that cannot be set aside: No firm purpose of amendment, no Communion.

underline emphasis mine

That’s what it really comes down to. Do people want to be seen being at church and getting communion and having sins “accepted” for the sake of their own self esteem or cultural goals? Or do they want to save their souls?

If it’s the later then we should do what we can to help them along this path. If it’s the former, we should walk away to avoid being pulled down the slippery slope and into the pit.

If there is one useful thing that the international movement on Transgenderism has done it’s been to illustrate that the “slippery slope” that we’ve been warning about for decades, it’s as much a slope as it is a Luge track but I digress…

Santos the Pol vs Santos the Catholic

Posted: December 28, 2022 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine, politics
Tags: , ,

I’ve known the Popes back in Illinois known all of them, they’re all liars and braggarts but don’t know of any particular reason why a liar and a braggart shouldn’t make a good general.

Abe Lincoln on being told John Pope can’t be trusted to tell the truth.1862

I must admit I’m slightly conflicted about the George Santos business.

On the one hand I’m a great believer in people being hoisted on their own petard. Our Democrat friends have become big on utilitarianism, (remember Harry Reid’s famous “He didn’t win did he?” concerning his lies about Romney) and the whole abandonment of the standard of honesty among the left has become so great that it’s almost laughable that they’re complaining about Santos’ whoppers.

Furthermore there is the question of vetting, I think Jazz Shaw’s theory on the matter is likely on the nose here:

How did George Santos make it over the finish line before all of this information came to light? The general consensus among New York Democrats seems to be that it’s a matter of timing. You see, Santos ran for this seat in 2020 against Democrat Tom Suozzi. It was obvious that Santos was going to get his clock cleaned and he did, losing by roughly 20 points. He was basically little more than a placeholder name on the ballot for the Republicans, so nobody really bothered vetting him or looking at the race too closely. And two years later, since he had run before, a lot of people clearly assumed that he’d already been vetted. (And there were bigger, hotter races to cover in the state anyway.)

Given the Democrats failure to vet an opponent and the tactics they have repeatedly used the partisan in my sees no reason for George Santos to resign anything. If they voters in his district want him out the proper solution is a recall election and who knows maybe Lincoln observation about not knowing of any particular reason why a liar and braggart shouldn’t make a good general applies to being a member of congress too.

But then we run into the Santos the Catholic business.

Santos is in fact a Catholic and as a Catholic there is a specific thing about the whole “bearing false witness” business. To win this office by bearing false witness is going to be damaging to his soul.

Christ was rather emphatic about this being a bad idea

Then Jesus said to his disciples,

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.

Matthew 16:24-27

Since gaining the whole world isn’t a good enough reason to forfeit eternal life how much less is a two year term in congress?

So my advice to George Santos: resign the seat and take a good look at the state of your soul.

That’s the best advice I can give, however since he has embraced the whole gay marriage, Joe Biden Nancy Pelosi “Catholics for Mortal sin” business I suspect this advice will go unheeded.

I’ll pray for him anyways. You should too.

The Three Dangers of the Frank Pavone Case Danger #3 The Idolatry of the Masses

Posted: December 24, 2022 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine
Tags: , , , , , ,

Click here for Danger 1: The errors of the Church

Click here for Danger 2: The Sin of Pride

I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose. For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by Chloe’s people, that there are rivalries among you.

I mean that each of you is saying, “I belong to  Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Kephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

St. Paul’s 1st Letter to the Corinthians 1:10-13

If there is one thing that you will note if you read the old Testament is that the children of Israel are constantly falling back into a state of idolatry from household Gods to Solomon giving sacrifices to his wife’s Gods to the various high places. No matter how much God asserts himself in doing things for them and saving them when they cry out, Israel again falls back into idolitry.

This is of course not purely a religious state of man but something that crosses all of those lines. All one has to do is look at our culture of sports and celerity and you can see that we constantly erect idols to worship and follow. Just take a look at the Taylor Swift ticket insanity if you don’t believe me.

And of course we see this in various megachurches from our protestant brothers whereby a “bishop” will make an idol of themselves and obtain wealth power and influence.

The real danger of all of these things is that the idol becomes more important that the God to be worshiped. This is in fact one of the great advantages of the Catholic system and hierarchy as it provides a check not just to personalities within the church getting too big for their britches but for any cause to supersede the cause of Christ and salvation which should be the primary goal of any and all in the Church. Lewis warned of this in the Screwtape letters:

Certainly we do not want men to allow their Christianity to flow over into their political life, for the establishment of anything like a really just society would be a major disaster. On the other hand we do want, and want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement, but, failing that, as a means to anything—even to social justice. The thing to do is to get a man at first to value social justice as a thing which the Enemy demands, and then work him on to the stage at which he values Christianity because it may produce social justice. For the Enemy will not be used as a convenience.

CS Lewis The Screwtape Letters #XXIII

I have already heard reports of outraged people saying they are going to other denominations due to this case and as I’ve already noted Frank Pavone has, to his credit already urged people not to go down that road.

Even so there are some who might be holding off again due to idolatry, again following the idol to those folks I’d like to remind them of what I wrote at the very start:

there are priests who have some background because when he was still Fr. Frank Pavone they were aware of the history between himself and the Bishops over him. His willingness to defy edicts from Bishops would not tend to grab sympathy from people who like him have taken a vow of obedience to such authority nor might the final result be a surprise to them.

And if there is one priest who knows the background of all of this it’s Fr. Stephen Imbarado the protest Priest. A tireless foe of Abortion who led the Eucharistic Procession here in Fitchburg before the Planned Parenthood in Fitchburg that our local and state press completely ignored but less that two years later, they were gone. (My videos of those events are all over Rumble) He recently put out a post on facebook on the subject. I’m having trouble embedding the video but you can see it via the link below

https://www.facebook.com/FrStephenImb/videos/910187783693495/

If you are even slightly considering dodging the church and the sacraments over this I urge you to watch this video and I urge you alto to take the warning that the folks at Church Militant gave of those who will use this events both to promote schism and to obtain your email for fundraising purposes.

This event is a tool that the enemy will try to use against your soul and let me remind you the enemy that I’m referring to is not the curia in Rome or the left or even Planned Parenthood, it is the only real enemy the Devil whose primary goal is to separate you from Christ and the Church for the purpose of obtaining your soul. He will use any tool toward this end and while I suspect he has a great hatred for Frank Pavone for all he’s done over the decades for the cause of life he will happily hold him up as an idol before you to saying: “See how horrible he is being treated by the church. How can you follow a church like that?”

That’s the danger and the game being played on you, don’t fall for it.

The Three Dangers of the Frank Pavone Case: Danger One The Errors of the Church

Posted: December 21, 2022 by datechguy in catholic, catholic devotions
Tags: , , , ,

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying,

“The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice…”

Matthew 23:1-3

Before I begin this series of posts let’s stipulate the following right up front:

The fight against Abortion is just and right and the efforts of Priests for Life in general and the former Father Frank Pavone in particular to oppose abortion and promote life have been to my knowledge a fine and noble undertaking in the best traditions of the Catholic Church and a service to all humanity.

That being said let’s get to the issues at hand.

There is a lot we don’t know about about the Frank Pavone case and the Vatican can take a lot of credit for this. However there are priests who have some background because when he was still Fr. Frank Pavone they were aware of the history between himself and the Bishops over him. His willingness to defy edicts from Bishops would not tend to grab sympathy from people who like him have taken a vow of obedience to such authority nor might the final result be a surprise to them.

But all of this is internal from as one might put it, “inside the club” outside the club this looks very different.

It looks like the Vatican which has over the last few years been very forgiving to those openly flaunting church teachings even to the point of advocating mortal sin while cracking down on the faithful.

As the Vatican letter states Fr. Pavone is a very public figure and creating this image, without explaining to the faithful the background behind it is not only foolish and short sighted, it plays into the hands of every group whose primary goal is to bring down the church, it increases the chance of schism and suggests a double standard for those who follow church teaching on subjects like abortion and those who do not. Given the recent history of the church under this pontiff I suspect very few daily mass Catholic will find such a double standard surprising

The folks at Church Militant put it best, even if all that is alleged by the Vatican is true and correct, and it’s very possible that it is, this was not the way to do things in a media age.

More importantly it illustrates the problem with putting off an issue that was illustrated during the gay pedophilia scandals.

Over and over the church rather than confronting the issue up front when it happened, they punted, transferred and tried to hide the issues. Stalling only made things worse until the scandals exploded much worse then it would have been it they had just been taken care of when they first came up.

If the then Father Pavone was disobeying his bishop back in his days in NY the church would have been better off cracking down at once, punting on the issue and stalling on the issue is one of the reasons why it’s a crisis for the church.

I know and concede that the Vatican by it’s very nature moves slowly and quietly and whenever possibly privately but this is just plain stupid and contrary to the spirit of Christ who when before Annas said:

The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his doctrine. Jesus answered him,

“I have spoken publicly to the world. I have always taught in a synagogue or in the temple area where all the Jews gather, and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me? Ask those who heard me what I said to them. They know what I said.”

When he had said this, one of the temple guards standing there struck Jesus and said, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?”

Jesus answered him,

“If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?”

John 18:19-23

When you have truth on your side, the thing to do is be open. The church should understand that and act accordingly.

Of course there is the possibility that the folks at the top who made this decision DO understand it and are silent because of it. I hope and pray this is not the case. I honestly don’t know, and frankly I suspect most of the people who read this post don’t know either.

Older Entries