Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Da Vinci Code Movie Lifts Opus Dei Membership
In what seems an ironic twist of fate, the blasphemous movie called the Da Vinci Code has actually helped Opus Dei increase their membership. In the film Opus Dei is portrayed as a ruthless ultra-secretive organization dating back to the middle ages. In so many words, it shows Opus Dei in unfairly poor light.
Nonetheless it has raised the profile of Opus Dei considerably. Enough so that the number of inquiries being made to Opus Dei have shot up. Even here in Houston, according to the local grapevine, there have been a dramatic increase of hits on the Opus Dei website and a huge flux of personal inquiries here in Houston.
Opus Dei, Latin for God's Work, is a personal prelature of the Catholic Church. The goals of the organization is to show the laity that they themselves can attain holiness; this is not reserved for the religious among us. They help guide their members in sanctifying their activities of daily life as an offering to God. They show that we as laity can remain in our own jobs and station in life while attaining holiness. Well, at attempting to attain holiness to be more precise.
For the Opus Dei website click here.
For the latest news about the Da Vinci Code and Opus Dei click here.
For my previous postings relating to Opus Dei click here and here.
Pope St. Leo The Great Turns Back Attila The Hun
This is a great moment in history. I couldn't find the exact date of when Pope Leo persuaded Attila to turn back from sacking Rome, but I believe it was during the Spring of 452 A.D. Pope St. Leo the Great was an eloquent writer and an excellent theologian.
Attila united most of the Hun tribes, who were descendents of earlier Huns from the Mongol steppes, in what is now Hungary and attacked both Roman Empires (Eastern and Western). He put the fear of God in all of the Roman Empire and was integral in the continual decline of it.
We Catholics should remember Pope St. Leo the Great for this monumental achievement. Done without an army at his side, but simple persuasion. It also didn't hurt to have the Archangel Michael by his side when Pope St. Leo the Great confronted Attila.
Friday, May 26, 2006
St. Edith Stein Quote Of The Day
I've come across a quote of this venerable saint, also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. St. Edith Stein is the Co-Patroness of Europe. She was born in 1891 in Breslau, Poland to a large Jewish family. She studied and was well versed in philosophy and phenomenology. In 1922 she converted to Catholicism and eleven years later entered the Cologne Carmel. When the Nazis conquered Holland, Edith Stein was arrested and was sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Edith Stein died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz in 1942 at the age of fifty-one.
During my spiritual journey I have started and expanded a prayer life that is now integral to me as is breathing. I've read many good books ranging from history to theology about our great Catholic faith. I've come across a few gems of authors and saints and reading up on the life of St. Edith Stein, I cam across this quote that is helping me come closer to God.:
"Only the person who renounces self-importance, who no longer struggles to defend or assert himself, can be large enough for God's boundless action."
--St. Edith SteinTo learn more about this wonderful saint click here.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Liberals Protect Islam, Attack Christianity
Time and time again it hardly never fails that the liberals, sophisticates, elites, and apologists from the political left will go out of their way to defend Islam by ridiculing Christianity. It happens here on this blog no less!
Why do these well-meaning, yet self-destructive, Americans continue to tear down our own civilization for the expediency of multi-culturalism, radical ecumenism, and modernist ideals? Because they have empty lives and in order to make themselves feel better to get the approval of other 'liberals' they do the fashionable thing, denigrate the Faith that Jesus Christ himself established here on earth. They are commonly called anarchists, but mostly their just poor liberals with no meaning in their lives.
The recent anti-Christian/anti-Catholic bashing that Chris Baker provoked and stoked is one example. Google's recent silencing of conservative websites is another. Why is it ok to portray President Bush as Hitler and wish his death on the Daily Kos, yet when the subject of Islamic terrorism is touched upon, Google bends over backwards to their 'liberal' complainers and censures the New Media Journal?
Why is it that we can't even mention the word 'God' nor 'Jesus', but we are being indoctrinated with Islam by reciting prayers of Mohammad and practicing fasting of Ramadan in California schools (soon to reach a Catholic school near you)?
Because of the indoctrination of the West being 'bad' and everything else being 'good'. This world perception took a dramatic hit on 9/11 and only now, little by little, is Islam being exposed for what it is. But you can see the liberal backlash gathering a storm against the Truth.
Let us pray for our poor liberal brother and sisters that they may see the light of their destruction before it is to late.
For more on the indoctrination of students about Islam by Investors Business Daily click here.
For more on the double standard in the media between the treatment of Christianity and Islam by RealClearPolitics click here.
For my recent posting on Googles censuring of free speech and the Truth click here.
For the posting about the Da Vinci Code and Chris Baker click here.
An Anglican Pope & Magisterium?
You read that right. In order to stave off an ever eminent schism between the conservative 50 million Anglicans from the liberal 22 million in the West, Archbishop Dr. Rowan Williams is proposing any measure that will keep the Anglican Communion from disintegrating.
Why don't the good Anglican faithful of Africa and Asia (the 50 million mentioned), just come on over to the Catholic Church and enjoy dogma, doctrines, and discipline that hasn't changed since Jesus told Peter to build His Church!
Archbishop Williams is doing everything possible to keep this schism from occurring, I doubt that he will be able to keep them together.
For more on this article click here.
Was The Son Of God Invented?
Both the Da Vinci Code novel and film assert that that early Christians viewed Jesus as merely a "mortal teacher" and that it was only at the Council of Nicaea in 325, under pressure from the Emperor Constantine, that the belief in Jesus' divinity became official Christian teaching.
This is simply not true. The Gospels and letters of Paul, as well as writings and liturgies from the centuries preceding Nicaea, give ample evidence that Christian faith was based on a belief that Jesus was the Son of God. They worshipped Jesus as Lord.
What Nicaea did was to correct the heresy of Arianism: the belief that Jesus was a highly exalted creature-- but a creature, nonetheless --who did not share in God's nature.
We repeat the Council's affirmation of Jesus; human and divine natures when we say the Nicene Creed: "God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God." This was not an innovation, It was simply a more precise articulation fo the truth about the Jesus we encounter in the Gospels.
--Our Sunday Visitor (Amy Welborn)
For more information about the sources of The Da Vinci Code Movie click here.
For the de-bunking the Da Vinci Code website click here.
For Amy Welborn's blog, Open Book, click here.
For the Our Sunday Visitor website click here.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Texas Planned Parenthood In A Mess
The family planning network, ie, Planned Parenthood, that the great state of Texas funds with taxpayer money is trying to shore up the program by injecting millions into it. What happened was state Senator Steve Ogden cut funding of almost $10 million in annual family funding to established state clinics.
Because of this heroic action staffs were cut and even facilities were shut down (unfortunately not enough of them) across the state. This is newsworthy only because the millions that is being pumped in to make up for the shortfall won't be enough and the damage done by this pro-life senator is enough to hamper Planned Parenthood's services.
Thusly many thousands of unborn children have been saved by the heroic actions of this state Senator. (the picture shown is him at a University Commencement ceremony)
(H/T to blogHOUSTON.net)
For the article from the chronically liberal fishwrap that is the Houston Chronicle click here.
Cardinal Arinze To Bishop Skylstad: Fix It!
The Roman Missal, a book that contains prayers spoken by a priest at the altar during Mass, is being updated for the first time here in the United States since 1974 (around there). The controversy here in the U.S. is that when the Roman Missal was translated into English from Latin, some of the translation work was poorly done.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, or USCCB, is the current American authority that is looking into updating the Roman Missal. The USCCB president, Bishop Skylstad (shown here to your right) of Spokane, is leading this revision.
Bishop Skylstad is of the mind to keep it as it is because the American laity has grown 'accustomed' to the current format for about 30 years now.
Cardinal Arinze (shown here at the top left), my favorite Cardinal and hero (sorry Larry Bird), has pretty much shot down this idea in a terse but direct letter sent to his Excellency, Bishop Skylstad. Francis Cardinal Arinze is the Prefect of the Congregation of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (italic emphasis mine). Basically it is Cardinal Arinze's job to keep the Catholic Church, well, Catholic.
Bishop Skylstad and the 'spirit of Vatican II' generation of Bishops and laity here in the United States have hijacked the pastoral nature of Vatican II. Basically he and his ilk want to water down the message of the Catholic Church and to turn the Church into another 'Protestant' denomination (no offense intended, we want to remain Catholic); just another mainstream, vanilla, liberal church here in America.
Here is an excerpt of the letter putting Bishop Skylstad in his place:
"For this reason it is not acceptable to maintain that people have become accustomed to a certain translation for the past thirty or forty years, and therefore that it is pastorally advisable to make no changes."(H/T to BUILT ON A ROCK) To learn more about Francis Cardinal Arinze click here.
To learn more about the Roman Missal click here.
For my previous postings about Francis Cardinal Arinze click here. To view the documents from Vatican II click here.
Google Silences Conservative Blogs & News
There has been a recent banning of conservative e-zines by Google. The poor victims of late have been New Media Journal, MichNews.com, and the Jawa Report.
Apparently because of 'hate speech' as cited by Google on these respective websites and complaints by liberals Google News deemed it necessary to ban searches of articles from the above mentioned websites. Google sent this terse explanation on why their articles have been suppressed:
"Upon recent review, we've found that your site contains hate speech, and we will no longer be including it in Google News."What were the articles in question written about? Islamic terrorism. In fact almost all of these 'censuring' measures taken by Google have been because the topic has been about Islamic terrorism, Muslim terrorists, etc. You get the idea. I am aware that as a Christian that my free speech was going to be inevitably curtailed by my own U.S. government concerning Christian doctrine, but never did I imagine that the private sector would be the first to repress articles of any variety or stripe. It's a capitalistic economy and Google is free to choose what they please, so maybe a 'Fox News' Google equivalent will arise in the (hopefully) near future to continue to allow for free speech to flourish in our democracy. For more on this development on American Thinker click here. For the exposition of Google's Liberal bent as showcased by NewsBusters click here. For the New Media Journal website click here. For the reaction of the New Media Journal click here. For the MichNews.com website click here. For the MichNews.com reaction to their banishment click here. For The Jawa Report click here. For the email from Google to The Jawa Report click here. (H/T for photo to Right On!).
The Sources Of The Da Vinci Code Movie
The claims about art, history, and religion made in The Da Vinci Code are not original, but are all taken from other works. First there are books of pseudo-history (Holy Blood, Holy Grail; The Templar Revelation) from which every bit of the story connecting Jesus, Mary Magdalene, the Holy Grail-as-Mary, and the Priory of Sion are taken.
(Incidentally, the "Priory of Sion" and its list of "grand masters"--as Dan Brown and these other books describe them--have been proven to be frauds originated by a reactionary, anti-Semitic Frenchman in the 1950s.)
Dan Brown also depends on speculative and fictional works about Mary Magdalene (The Woman With the Alabaster Jar), from which he takes the notion of Mary as the designated leader of early Christianity.
Curiously, Dan Brown never refers to any book of the New Testament nor any of the writings or liturgies of the early Christian Church as he discusses Jesus' identity or what early Christians believed about Jesus.
--taken from Our Sunday Visitor (Amy Welborn)
For more information about the sources of The Da Vinci Code Movie click here.
For the de-bunking the Da Vinci Code website click here.
For Amy Welborn's blog, Open Book, click here.
For the Our Sunday Visitor website click here.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Da Vinci Code And Chris Baker
For the record I have not watched the movie nor do I intend to watch the Da Vinci Code. I have not read the book as well. I have been keeping up with this hot topic from the moment the book came out and have chose to make a statement today. Especially after listening to Chris Baker belittle Catholic Christians and other Christians and stoke the fires of hate on KTRH 740 AM yesterday (May 19) in Houston.
With that said I do have a right to voice my opinion on this movie and radio personality Chris Baker, simply because the premise itself lends to religious intolerance and subversion and the way Mr. Baker denigrated my Catholic faith and culture.
In this post-Christian age we are constantly bombarded with a continuous stream of misinformation and mischaracterization on our Christian faith. Of course we live in a free society that glorifies the right to insult others but we do have some 'secular' standards that we consciously or unconsciously abide to that prevents us from inciting hatred.
For example if a movie was made about the denial of the Holocaust as 'fiction', there would be a media storm like we wouldn't believe. The ACLU, New York Times, KTRH 740, and even Fox News would be all over this movie like white on rice. Tell me that for a second that some uneducated half-wit like Chris Baker of 740 KTRH would have mocked the movie as just 'fiction' and told Jews should 'get over it'. Do you believe for one second that this spineless man would even crack jokes in relation to a film about the denial of the Holocaust?
Of course not because that is why he is accorded the appropriate term as 'spineless', 'uneducated', and 'half-wit'. Spineless because he won't call the movie for what it is, an Anti-Catholic hate film. Uneducated because outside of spelling the word 'Bible' he knows nothing of Christianity, more specificity Catholicism and how our Christian faith interacts with an increasingly anti-Christian and secular world. Half-wit because as he attempts to be topical and controversial on his radio show yesterday (Monday, May 19) he shows his sheer ignorance of the major issues in this ongoing culture war.
Yes, he tries to be all things to all people and he has a history of shrinking from controversial topics, but when it comes to the little guy (our Christian faith), Chris goes ballistic. Stoking hatred towards Catholics and our religion. Mr. Baker would not ever criticize Jews for defending their faith in a face of a movie that denies that the Holocaust never occurred.
Regardless of any good, if any, that Chris Baker has done in the past on his radio show or in private, he showed his true colors by not standing up for the many blatant attacks he allowed on the call-in show as well as his insensitive remarks. Call me a bit sensitive, I really don't care, but defame my faith and I will blog about.
Have I gone to far in my remarks concerning Mr. Baker, probably. The point I am making is we wouldn't have had the Catholic bashing that I listened to yesterday on KTRH if it wasn't for Mr. Bakers disrespect of our Christian, specificity Catholic, faith.
May God have mercy on his soul.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Bits And Pieces
My United 93 posting was my first posting that had almost nothing to do with Catholicism, but I felt it necessary to post because Christianity is threatened by militant Islam.
Anyways, I've been driving my buddies Saab over the weekend and I have to say it is a nice car, but never in a million years will I buy one. It sucks gas like you wouldn't believe it. One of my friends also calls it the Sob car because you will cry each time you fill up your gas tank. It nearly took half a tank of gas to drive from my Heights home to the airport and back. That is ridiculous. It beats me how in the world this automobile manufacturer can make any money at all!
Could be that I am spoiled by my Toyota Camry and its excellent gas mileage. But in this climate of rising fuel costs I don't believe Saab will be selling well at all today. Which brings to mind all those SUV's and Hummers I see on the road (especially in the River Oaks area). How can you justify even owning a Hummer?
People are moaning about the $3/gallon price. That is nothing compared to the $5/gallon I believe we'll be paying before 2008 arrives. I'm not an economist nor a petro engineer, but I do play one on this blog.
Well I'm preparing for my Bible study group tonight and just wanted to throw in my two cents worth. I haven't been blogging as much recently due to many reasons. One of them being my growth in my Catholic faith. Hard to explain, but I'm going to still keep my blog. Though I am not as acidic as I have been in that past (polemic, a friend of mine tells me), I will not hold any punches back.
Because the Truth is Absolute (Pope Benedict XVI).
One last note, I broke the 10,000 barrier for the number of hits on my blog (nine months). Gee, Relapsed Catholic gets that in a day!
Peace,
Conde (one out of three bald brothers can't be bad for this blog)
Saturday, May 13, 2006
The Death Spiral Of Europe
...continues with no country in Europe having the needed replacement birth rate of 2.1 children per family.
With 50% of Belgian newborns being euthanised, it is clear that Europe has embraced death as its only recourse.
Homosexual relationships are elevated to the sacrament of marriage, Catholic nations not adopting European Union homosexual marriage laws will be suspended from voting, Catholic politicians are openly mocked and ridiculed. Totalitarianism is rearing its ugly head as liberal and socialist doctrines are rammed down the throats of innocent Christians all over Europe. The Intifadah in France recently showed how spineless Europe is in addressing their moral decline. When the Spanish people voted out Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar after the Madrid bombing by Muslims, it showed how weak and hopeless Europe is as a whole.
For more on this article by George Weigel click here.
For an indepth analysis of Europes decline click here and here.
To learn more about the religion of peace in Europe click here, here, and here.
Ron Howard & Tom Hanks Break The 8th Commandment
If you two were even a nominal Christian, you would be aware of the 10 commandments, especially the eighth commandment. If you open your Bible to the Old Testament, you'll find two verses expressing this sentiment:
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." --Exodus 20:16 "Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor." --Deuteronomy 5:20If you are Catholic, it is even more explicit because tradition and scripture tells us that a lie: " . . . consists in speaking a falsehood with the intention of deceiving." The Lord denounces lying as the work of the devil:
"Lying is the most direct offense against the truth." "The gravity of a lie is measured against the nature of the truth it deforms, the circumstances, the intentions of the one who lies, and the harm suffered by its victims." The Catholic Church states that: "The eighth commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in our relations with others. This moral prescription flows from the vocation of the holy people to bear witness to their God who is the truth and wills the truth. Offenses against the truth express by word or deed a refusal to commit oneself to moral uprightness: they are fundamental infidelities to God and, in this sense, they undermine the foundations of the covenant" To learn more about the 10 Commandment click here. To learn more about the Catechism of the Catholic Church click here. To read the Bible click here. To learn more about the Bible click here. For the response of the Catholic League to Ron Howard click here. To learn more about the deception of the DaVinci Code movie click here."You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to this own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
--John 8:44
Friday, May 12, 2006
Father Altier Banished
Father Altier criticized the new sex ed books being utilized by Catholic schools in a predominantly liberal archdiocese. He subsequently was put on 'break' and now has been 'reassigned'. Since Archbishop Flynn asked Father Altier to take a break from posting his homilies online, ie, silenced, he has now banished Father Altier from one of the most prestigious parishes in Minnesota to an old folks nursing home.
I pray for the borderline anathema archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis.
For more on this article click here.
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