I can’t help but think that America is now like your brother who can’t keep a job, drinks too much, is constantly asking for money, and oh, has a crazy bad addiction that’s destroying his life.
You tried just lending him money every time he promised to go straight but he just ain’t gonna’ do it. At some point you accept that he’s going to have to hit bottom. You don’t know what bottom looks like but you know that he’s racing towards it. It might be jail, death, brain damage. Nobody knows. But at some point he’ll hear the thud and wake up face first in a pool of his own vomit and he’ll have to make the decision to turn over and get back up or just die.
And that’s where America is heading. This country is going to have to go absolutely bankrupt and hit bottom before it starts getting better. This country is borrowing money from children that they’re killing in the womb in record numbers. That, is not a recipe for success.
And of the children that we do have, many of them are being born into single parent homes where their chances of spending some time in jail are increased while their economic outlook is severely diminished.
For too many years we slept. Maybe we saw it coming, maybe we just suspected that everything was going to hell.
Leftists have taken over our education establishment, giving them firm control over what our children learn (unless you homeschool or have a great Catholic or private school). The left has long controlled the media and therefore control what people hear about current events. So think about it, they have control over the teaching of history and the present.
And why didn’t we think we were going to be routed? And what did we do to prevent this? We talked about school choice but got weak kneed when the fight got bloody. We snarked about the media and congratulated ourselves on how many interesting and funny ways we tweeted that Chris Matthews was stupid. Here’s the thing, pretty much everyone in the media agrees with him. It’s an MSNBC media. Some just hide it a little better.
If you want to understand the true power of the media, this election is a prime example. The media propped up a corrupt and egotistical ideologue throughout this entire campaign. They ignored Solyndra. They ignored Benghazi. They covered up the economic ruin we were inviting on ourselves. Sure, FoxNews and the new media have hurt the media establishment but what the MSM showed in this election is that we can snark it up all we want, they’ve got one hand firmly on the levers of power and the other around our throats.
But here’s the thing. I’ve gotten to the point now where I’m thinking about the fact that I have five kids, a wonderful wife, and a good parish. My life is good and full of love. We try to give to charity and work with a home for unwed mothers. We’ll continue with these things. I’m focusing on what I can do in my life. I’ll continue to write and work but I know where this country is heading.
I know where the country is going. I’m not going there and neither is my family. The Church will continue to exist whatever happens to this country. The country’s barreling downwards and when it hits bottom it’s going to explode like shrapnel. My job is to protect my family from the flying pieces. And then we’ll start gathering the pieces.
The only good news in all this is that I think that we’ll hit bottom awfully quick because we’re heading there awfully fast.
November 8, 2012 at 6:55 pm
WOW. Such love. I always wondered what happened to the ilk of Torquemada.
November 8, 2012 at 9:20 pm
I didn't think anyone really expected the trajectory of the nation to change under Romney, only that it might slow down a bit.
November 8, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Anonymous of 1:55: Switching sides? Comparing the baby-killers to Torquemada? Or just insulting everybody who opposes the baby-killing as usual for a Liberal Catholic?
November 8, 2012 at 10:25 pm
40 Days For Life Campaigner/Church in Need supporter, if you are the same "anonymous" (as I said, a great name) who said, "voting for a pro-abortion candidate of any stripe is colluding with evil," then I ask the same question: What are you doing to put your bishop's feet to the fire? Unless your name is Judie Brown, I have no use for your opinion nor for your evaluation of me.
I have no guilty conscience in voting for Romney. I no longer take Catholic moral theology seriously, not only because the bishops (and that includes this Pope) no longer take it seriously but because the Catholic Church has been in full-bore apostacy for centuries. It long ago sacrificed its spiritual patrimony on the altar of political power, wealth, secular influence, intellectual fashion, institutional arrogance and a pervasive sense of entitlement.
The only way abortion will change is this country is to give young people the emotional, psychological, spiritual and ethical tools to deal with their budding sexuality without resorting to contraception or intercourse. It involves looking at the opposite sex with respect and reverence as somebody made in God's image, not as an outlet for hormones. Tell me, whatever-your-name-is, how well have the Church's leaders been doing that, lately — if at all?
November 8, 2012 at 10:39 pm
August, answer my question. Do you seriously believe that the ethnic tensions in Southeast Europe would not have occurred if Versailles had not been signed? Those tensions had been going on well before WWI (thanks, in part, to the Ottoman Turks). In fact, a couple of wars were fought in the Balkans in the decade before WWI. You seriously believe the Austria-Hungary would have been able to stem the tide and remain intact?
I mention my father because you, like so many other American Catholic poseurs, dismiss liberty in favor of some monarchistic system. If you are as well versed in history as you claim, then you know that this nation fought against a monarchy that wanted to tax it dry. If you are as intelligent as you make yourself out to be, then you know that humanity was created in God's Image — and, since God is the ultimate free Being in the universe, then He created humanity in His free image. The fact that sin marrs that image does not mean the God has stopped making the basic prototype, as it were.
I believe in the United States, despite the presidential election, because I believe in its fundamental values. One of those the citizenry holding elected officials accountable, something not possible in your beloved Austria-Hungry. Another is the general lack of blind deference to leaders, something which Catholics should learn to adopt because the "successors to the Apostles" are anything but. They are unrepentant, arrogant careerists who blaspheme God's Holy Name merely by their presence! They care far more about their power and wealth than they do about the God (let alone His people) they claim to serve (if the clerical sex-abuse crisis did not bring that out, then nothing did). They will be judged by a holy, righteous God Who will sweep all apostates under His Son's feet. Don't believe that? Stay tuned.
November 9, 2012 at 12:43 am
Heretic Hippolito said:I no longer take Catholic moral theology seriously, not only because the bishops (and that includes this Pope) no longer take it seriously but because the Catholic Church has been in full-bore apostacy for centuries.
Great. This lets us all know where we stand. I for one have no need to address an apostate heretic fool. One wonders why you think your opinion matters at all on a Catholic blog. Hint: it doen't.
November 9, 2012 at 12:46 am
There are places where the Catholic Church did not endure. North Africa. Northern Europe; Norway, Sweden, Denmark,parts of Northern Germany. Don't be smug!!!
November 9, 2012 at 1:59 am
Joseph D'Hippolito: The human being is composed of body and immortal soul. Obama sold his soul to the devil. Obama is a LOSER. Each and every person must concern himself with getting his soul to heaven, a friendship with God. The bishops, the church too, belong to God, but each person is a child of God.
November 9, 2012 at 2:35 am
40 Days For Life Campaigner/Church in Need supporter, you don't have to address me. You do, however, have to address centuries of papal and episcopal history, not to mention the attitude of such bodies as the USCCB and even the Vatican.
Ask yourself this question: If either Jesus or St. Peter were walking on this earth today, do you seriously think their attitude toward the Catholic hierarchy would be any different than their attitude toward the religious leaders of their own day?
As far as being an "apostate" goes, if loyalty toward the Triune Godhead over and above any church in your eyes, so be it. I have less use for your opinions than for used toilet paper.
Mary De Voe, you get no argument from me about Obama or about abortion. Whether the bishops belong to God, however, is an open question. If you can find anything that Malachi Martin wrote about the Vatican, I strongly suggest you read it.
November 9, 2012 at 5:50 pm
Heretic hippolito, you are a follower of Satan. Get the behind me.
November 9, 2012 at 6:20 pm
Joseph,
I seriously believe, that you, like many Americans, can't distinguish between liberty and the form of government. The bill of rights is not a form of government, but rather a declaration of what the government should not fool with. A monarch can understand this as well as a republic. The masses, apparently cannot understand this at all, which is why even our founding fathers were not for universal suffrage, and the Senate was originally appointed by the states.
I believe America should have stayed out of WWI at the very least. This was certainly in America's best interest. Secondarily, it would have made sense to point out the Emperor was the only leader on the continent not being a total ass.
I can tell by your insults that you are unduly proud. You have to have the epistemological humility to study. In order to improve, one must assume there is at least a little improvement left to be done. Instead, you write the sort of thing that blatantly proves my point. You confuse liberty with this form of government more than once.
I find it hard to watch Ben Stiller movies because I end up feeling embarrassed for the characters- your comments effect me in much the same way.
November 9, 2012 at 8:25 pm
August, you're very good at psychological projection. Why don't you provide specifics to your historical points, instead of just insulting me? Or does condescending to the "ignorant" sully your self-benighted status as an "intellectual"?
For better or worse, and whether you like it or not, the United States has done more to protect and promote liberty than any nation that has ever existed. The Catholic Church cannot say that because the Catholic Church dethrones God and puts itself in His place.
God created humanity in His image. Since God is the ultimate free being, then God gave humanity freedom. The fact that sin marrs that image does not mean God will discard the prototype, as it were (otherwise, why promise a Messiah and why save Noah?)
The Founding Fathers recognized something that Catholics have yet to learn. Even Jesus recognized it — after all, He was the agent through whom God created the Universe — when he lambasted the religious leaders of His day in Matthew 23.
However, for centuries Catholicism lined itself up with authoritarian monarchies in Europe and non-monarchies in Latin America. The Vatican didn't even dispense with the Index until 1966. The fact that Pope Leo XIII effectively demanded that the Church enjoy special rights ("the favor of the laws and the patronage of the public authority") over and above God-given rights to every individual proves my point.
Speaking of Leo XIII, I suggest you do some research on the vision he had in the Vatican, in which Christ gave Satan permission to destroy the Catholic Church within a century.
November 9, 2012 at 8:27 pm
40 Days For Life Campaigner/Church in Need supporter, if placing loyalty to the Triune God over and above any church makes me a follower of Satan, then you're no better than the Pharisees who called Jesus demon-possessed because He cast out demons! Do you really want to say that?
November 10, 2012 at 2:19 am
Joseph D'Hippolito: If you believe the Catholic Church is apostate, why should we listen to you? And there is no relationship with God without some church that retains apostolic succession—the New Covenant is not with any individual, it is with an institution. Any of the other real churches—not merely that of Rome—will react exactly the same to your "I'm more loyal to God than to any church" bullshit.
You are not a follower of Satan, you're just a Protestant too stupid to know he's a Protestant.
November 10, 2012 at 4:21 am
And there is no relationship with God without some church that retains apostolic succession—the New Covenant is not with any individual, it is with an institution.
That is a bald-faced lie. The New Covenant is a relationship with Christ Himself and His Body, not with a bunch of apostate careerists who mouth pieties they plan to do nothing about.
Church leaders have perpetuated that lie to grab power for themselves and lord it over the laity. They refuse to acknowledge St. Peter's proclamation that those who believe in Christ are "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2: 9). The fact that they divide the faithful into three theological classes ("prelates," "clergy," "laity") renders it imcompatible with that ideal.
"Apostolic succession" — and its sister doctrine, the priest as "alter Christus" — are the biggest theological scams in institutionalized Christianity. They have been misused by clerics to demand blind deference, to point others to themselves rather than to Christ, to encourage a kind of spiritual co-dependency among the "laity."
I suggest you study the Letter to the Hebrews. Christ entered into the Holy of Holies in Heaven to intercede for all who believe in Him — regardless of whether they're Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox. As the result of His sacrifice, believers are encouraged to come boldly and confidently into the Throne Room of Grace, because of Christ's sacrifice and intercession.
If you've never heard that, it's because the priests and prelates don't want you to hear it. They value their power more than any concept of fidelity.
Apparently, Sophia's Favorite, you've never heard of the Holy Spirit. He works not only collectively but individually, as well.
Finally, you and other Catholics absolutely have no idea the kind of severe judgement the Catholic Church has stored up for itself — and which God will pour out, when the time is right.
November 10, 2012 at 6:37 am
You cite a book in shitty Greek no civilized person accepted except on the authority of an institution, against that institution. Quod erat demonstrandum—you are a Protestant too stupid to know it is one.
Any further remarks from you will be solely the yammerings of the dog that lost the fight.
November 11, 2012 at 12:48 am
You cite a book in shitty Greek no civilized person accepted except on the authority of an institution, against that institution. Quod erat demonstrandum—you are a Protestant too stupid to know it is one.
Interesting that you tried to refute my assertion not only by attacking me but by attacking a work that is considered divinely inspired, whether it's in "shitty" Greek or perfect Greek. The fact that the "institution" declaring this letter to be inspired deliberately ignores the implications of the passages I cite is far more of a damning indictment on it than you can ever impose on me.
November 13, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Many of these comments prove your points to this essay. You are not winy and wimpy…maybe
justly concerned. Winy and wimpy are those that
just had to get their two cents in to "correct"
you …THEY have the enlightenment….blah blah
blah, Catholic ..blah, blah… The Corporal Works of Mercy can be done. The Spiritual Works of Mercy are not attainable in our current "divider nation".