The Hard Truth — Part II
WHY? Why would the Catholic Church be against love?
That is the question many people ask when it comes to the Church’s prohibition against gay marriage. Two people want to get married because they love each other. Why not?
THE HARD TRUTH
My People Are Perishing
Peter Martyr Enjoins Silence, Fra Angelico
EVERYONE’S talking about it. Hollywood, secular newspapers, news anchors, evangelical Christians… everyone, it seems, but the bulk of the Catholic Church. As more and more people are attempting to grapple with the extreme events of our time —from bizarre weather patterns, to animals dying en masse, to frequent terrorist attacks—the times we are living in have become, from a pew-persepective, the proverbial "elephant in the living room." Most everyone senses to one degree or another that we are living in an extraordinary moment. It’s jumping out of the headlines every day. Yet the pulpits in our Catholic parishes are often silent…
Thus, the confused Catholic is often left to Hollywood’s hopeless end-of-world scenarios that leave the planet either without a future, or a future salvaged by aliens. Or is left with the atheistic rationalizations of the secular media. Or the heretical interpretations of some Christian sects (just cross-your-fingers-and-hang-on-until-the-rapture). Or the ongoing stream of "prophecies" from Nostradamus, new age occultists, or hieroglyphic rocks.
The Hard Truth — Part V
Unborn Baby at 8 Weeks Lobster
First published December 15th, 2006… this writing is never far from my thoughts. I have updated it with references to Pope Benedict’s latest encyclical.
TOLERANT, Humane, Equal—the new Trinity of the modern world, the image in which we have recreated ourselves. As such in this emerging New World Order, animals have been given the same rights as humans… if not more.
Will He Find Faith?
IT was a five and a half hour drive from the airport to the remote community in Upper Michigan where I was to give a retreat. I knew of this event for months, but it wasn’t until I began my journey that the message I was called to speak finally filled my heart. It began with the words of our Lord:
…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? (Luke 18:8)
The context of these words is a parable Jesus told "about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary" (Lk 18:1-8). Strangely, he ends the parable with that troubling question of whether or not He will find faith on earth when He returns. The context is whether souls will persevere or not.
So, You Saw Him Too?
The Man of Sorrows, by Matthew Brooks
YEAR FOR PRIESTS
2009 – 2010
IN my travels throughout Canada and the United States, I have been blessed to spend time with some very beautiful and holy priests—men who are truly laying down their lives for their sheep. Such are the shepherds whom Christ seeks these days. Such are the shepherds who must have this heart in order to lead their sheep in the coming days…
A TRUE STORY
One such priest recounted this true personal story about an event which occurred while he was in seminary…
Is a Fetus a Person?
Unborn baby at 20 weeks
IN response to The Hard Truth – Part V, a Canadian journalist from a national newspaper responded with this question:
If I understand you correctly, you place a great deal of moral emphasis on the capacity of the fetus to feel pain. My question to you is, does this mean abortion is entirely permissible if the fetus is anesthetized? It seems to me that either way you answer, it’s the ethical "personhood" of the fetus that is truly relevant, and its ability to feel pain tells us little if anything about it.
First published July 12th, 2008…
Counting the Cost
First published March 8th, 2007.
THERE are rumblings throughout the Church in North America about the growing cost of speaking the truth. One of them is the potential loss of the coveted "charitable" tax status the Church enjoys. But to have it means that pastors cannot put forward a political agenda, particularly during elections.
However, as we’ve seen in Canada, that proverbial line in the sand has been eroded by the winds of relativism.
Calgary’s own Catholic bishop, Fred Henry, was threatened during the last federal election by an official of Revenue Canada for his forthright teaching on the meaning of marriage. The official told Bishop Henry that the charitable tax status of the Catholic Church in Calgary might be jeopardized by his vocal opposition to homosexual "marriage" during an election. —Lifesite News, March 6th, 2007
The School of Compromise
Betrayed By a Kiss, by Michael D. O’Brien
TO enter "the school of love" does not mean one must suddenly enroll in "the school of compromise." By this I mean that love, if it is genuine, is always truthful.
The Hour of Decision
SINCE this was first posted, September 7th, 2008, the decision has been made in Canada: there will be no protection for the unborn, no end to abortion in sight. And now, America faces its greatest decision ever. I have added the video below which I just recorded. It is a supplement to the writing below, in this hour of decision. (Note: the date of the election is November 4th, not the 2nd, as stated in the video.)
Love and Truth
First published April 27th, 2007…
THE greatest expression of Christ’s love was not the Sermon on the Mount or even the multiplication of the loaves.
It was on the Cross.
So too, in The Hour of Glory for the Church, it will be the laying down of our lives in love that will be our crown.
Images Moving Hearts
I HAVE received a landslide of replies to my last two meditations on the unborn. There is a strong sense from nearly all those who have written that these images are necessary in the battle to end infanticide within the womb.
Here are a few samples of the many moving and emotional letters I received which are a testimony to the power of telling—and showing the truth…
Controversial Images
Scene from The Passion of the Christ
EVERY day as I comb the news headlines, I am faced with the violence and evil of this world. I find it exhausting, but also recognize it as my duty as a "watchman" to try and sift through this stuff to find the "word" hidden in the world’s events. But the other day, the face of evil really got to me when I entered the video store for the first time in months to rent a movie for my daughter’s birthday. As I scanned the shelves for a family movie, I was faced with image after image of dismembered bodies, half-naked women, demonic faces, and other violent images. I was looking into the mirror of a culture obsessed with sex and violence.
And yet, no one seems to openly object to this gruesome display which is scanned each day by young and old alike, and yet, when a picture of the reality of abortion is shown, some people are deeply offended. People pay to see violent movies, even rousing dramas such as Braveheart, Schindler’s List, or Saving Private Ryan where the reality of evil is graphically portrayed; or they play video games depicting unbelievable brutality and gruesome violence, and yet, somehow this is acceptable—but a photo giving voice to the voiceless is not.