Who Stands for Christ?

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My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations; Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience. And patience hath a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing. James 1:2-4

Picture this:

You are one of the first to enter a room for a gathering. You select a half-empty table where some acquaintances are already situated and sit down. It's a warm day so you hang your suit jacket from the back of the chair. You place your books and iPad/notebooks in front of you and prepare for any business during the gathering. After quickly getting a cup of coffee, you sit and chat with your acquaintances at the table for a while. While the room quickly fills it is announced the snack/appetizer table is ready and everyone lines up. You purposely wait for everyone else to go to be polite although as the last person there, there is almost no food left. No problem! You head back to your seat with a few carrot sticks and another gentleman is in your seat (with your jacket, books, and full cup of coffee all still present). Does he give back your seat when you ask him to? NO! In fact, he's quite adamant with a "so what" attitude, profusely exuding an indifferent rudeness. (A mild answer breaketh wrath: but a harsh word stirreth up fury. Prov 15:1) What do you do?

This is the actual scenario I had to live during the most recent gathering with my Dominican brothers and sisters yesterday. What did I do? Well after muttering how “rude and uncultured” he was, I quietly slipped away. That is, “quietly” on the outside. Inwardly, there was a great maelstrom of anger in my heart and mind. I was aghast that such behavior was presented by a Dominican and a Catholic. In a timely obsession I contemplated this unabashed display of rudeness. What had I done and why would someone treat me like that? In my mind, the focus shifted from me to God. Quite simply, rudeness is an outward display of disrespect to God. The Bible is full of examples of this. Sitting relatively isolated in a newly located chair, I (slowly) came to the realization that my seat-stealing adversary was far from being the lone empty vessel of Christian virtue. I was put to the test just as much as he was. And I failed…miserably.

But I say to you that hear: Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you. Luke 6:27

No matter how I behaved outwardly, my initial reaction was to be angry and even mean. I had no love or immediate forgiveness for this man and he wasn’t even my enemy; I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know me enough to hate me. Jesus’ words above are one of the many examples of the challenge He conveys to us when following Him through that narrow gate. By staying true to His Word and following him, we also stand with him. Where did I stand for Christ in this?

 

When I left my meeting, the anger in my head had dissipated but my heart was still clouded with it and that bothered me. Praying during my long drive home, my anger actually turned to sadness and a slight frightened feeling. Sitting at the table throughout the before mentioned episode were the gentlemen I had been conversing with. They sat there not as only mute witnesses to the dreadful situation, but with disturbing grins as if it were funny. Did they think it was funny or were they simply uncomfortable? Did they not want me there or were they lacking some kind of fundamental courage? The answers don’t really matter. What was saddening was the realization how difficult it was for anyone to at least voice what is right let alone stand up for it. Why is this sad and frightening? It hit me hard; if Dominicans can’t speak up in what is really a juvenile, silly affair, how are they ever going to stand up for Christ? I have since been pretty disheartened in the belief we are in bad shape!

The News That Hurts

With an intense work project, studying, defining my personal apostolate and Spring cleaning in the house, I haven't allowed myself time to post regularly. So for today, here is just some slight commentary and links of some of the recent not-so-good Catholic news that has been bugging me this past week.

Apparently, God has had some fairly stealthy directives hidden in the Bible via the Commandments and previously suppressed Church teaching. Thanks to some feel-good "Catholic" scholars, we now know that workers' unions are close to being natural law and union busting is a "mortal sin." Click here to read about it.

Continuing proof that too many of today, particularly those that claim to be Catholic, no longer have any sense of the sacred: the Rainbow Sash homosexual movement announced plans to disrupt mass this coming Pentecost Sunday.
Have your say or object to whatever you please but in the proper venue! If they actually were the deserving Catholics they claim to be, they would never disrupt the Church's most sacred rite.

One can't help but be confused by the recent public comments from a Jesuit about some of Pope Benedict XVI's words to social workers during an audience with them in Portugal.
To quote Fr. James Martin, S.J., ...he [The Pope] stated that abortion and same-sex marriage, were "some of today's most insidious and dangerous threats" to the common good seemed oddly discordant. The equation of abortion, something that clearly is about a threat to life, with same-sex marriage, which no matter how you look at it, does not mean that anyone is going to die, is bizarre.
Beyond the fact that too many contemporary Jesuits are incapable of defending the Pope (no surprise), one would expect a magazine editor of America to correctly interpret a simple statement in context of Catholic teaching. Nowhere does the Holy Father equate abortion to same-sex marriage as the same thing materially. They are mentioned as two distinct evils that are equally dangerous (and murderous) spiritually.
Edited out the article was the fact that Fr. Martin went as far as to say that the Pope's statement went against the Gospel!

It's only a personal perception but is seems the recent meeting of 800 women religious leaders in Rome was failed damage control for the recent "inquisition" of the U.S. Apostolic Visitation. They released a declaration using their best "Spirit of Vatican II" newspeak (which has nothing to do with the true Vatican II). I suggest reading the declaration and commentary over at the Acts of the Apostasy blog. You must play the optional accompanied music for the best effect!

Don't get me started on the son-of-a-lesbian-couple-attending-Catholic-school fiasco in the Archdiocese of Boston.

As it is almost impossible now to escape any mention of the recent Arizona illegal immigration law in all mass media, individuals and groups from various levels of the Church are making sure they get their two-cents in. Their opinions represent both "sides" of the law. Not matter which "side" is taken, the more extreme of either often displays their ignorance of the bill itself. Anyone who vocalizes an opinion on it should at least read it first and then speak!

Here's a topic to discuss amongst yourselves: should a lesbian that decided she could be ordained a priest, and pretended to be one, be buried in the consecrated ground of a Catholic cemetery?

Mother Seton Prays Fervently

This is my latest response to a news story. This one is in response to other commenters on "The Chronicle of Higher Education" concerning a small article about Seton Hall Univerity possibly canceling a same-sex marriage course prompted by the archbishop of Newark.

Seton Hall is the oldest DIOCESAN University in the country and is under the Archdiocese of Newark. Therefore it is under the Catholic teaching of the archbishop. The university, itself, publically self-identifies as a Catholic institution and states, "A university is Catholic in many ways: ...living Catholic values." The university is obligated to uphold Catholic teaching by its own declaration while the archbishop is doing his job as the primary teacher and sanctifier for his see.

Even if it wasn't a diocesan establishment, as a Catholic institution it requires a "professio fidei" under canon 833 of the current Canon Law. In the revised code of 1983, a "professio fidei" was extended to theologians and others who teach in faith and ethics "in any [Catholic] universities whatsoever" as well as priests, bishops, etc.

A "same-sex marriage course" at a Catholic college is not a bad thing in itself. However, if such a course is to be taught, it should be solely from the spiritual teaching of the Church.

If it were truly from an "academic perspective" or some people believe Seton Hall should adhere to their personal interpretation of a "'real' open academic institution," then the expectation should also be for a "'real' open academic" lecturer. The class professor, W. King Mott, is an openly homosexual man in a same-sex relationship; he called the Catholic Church "prima facie homophobic" and has publically stated Church teaching on marriage being between one man and one woman as "laughable." This is hardly an "open academic" situation. Sounds rather biased to me.

It's easy for modernist academics to put a chosen spin on Bible passages despite 2000 years of previous teaching descended from others much closer to the time. But let's not also forget that there was no word or concept to fully convey our current understanding of what we now call "homosexual."
There are a lot of things Jesus never mentioned! (He DID refer to the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, though.) You would have to disregard then entire New Testament save for the four Gospels if you “cherry-pick” to only believe something because "Jesus said it."

The Continually Expanding Insanity

Jesus should not have anything to do with Christmas. You have mental health problems if you depitct Jesus dead on a cross!

This is the message a Massachusetts public school system is endorsing.
Taughton, MA, which has the official ironic nickname The Christmas City, has gone completely through the looking glass.

A special needs 8-year-old boy drew a stick-figure of the crucified Jesus when his teacher asked the children in class to sketch something that reminded them of Christmas. The boy made the mistake of actually drawing Jesus. The boy was sent home from school suspended and forced to undergo a psychological evaluation.

Here is the first place I learned of this.

Here is the local news story from the school's town.