I had mentioned the JP II generation's 1Flesh Website in an earlier post. For those wondering how one might, God willing, space their family in accordance with God's plan, listen to this story!

In Chapter 3 of the Smoke of Satan I discuss at great length the truth about sex which subsists in Catholic teaching. It is refreshing to see the JP II generation assimilating this truth that they might have "mind blowing sex" when they are married. Here is a series of videos demonstrating their openness to the Truth. Also, check our their fabulous website .

Who’s that on page 180 of that book? This is Sister Mary Benjamin, IHM. Sister Mary Benjamin got involved with us in the summer of ‘66, and became the victim of a lesbian seduc­tion. An older nun in the group, “free­ing herself to he more expressive of who she really was internally,” decided that she wanted to make love with Sis­ter Mary Benjamin. Well, Sister Mary Benjamin engaged in this; and then she was stricken with guilt, and won­dered, to quote from her book, “Was I doing something wrong, was I doing something terrible? I talked to a priest—” Unfortunately, we had talked to him first. “I talked to a priest,” she says, “who refused to pass judgment on my actions. He said it was up to me to decide if they were right or wrong. He opened a door, and I walked through the door, realizing I was on my own.” This is her liberation? How excited they were, to be deliver­ing someone into God’s hands! Well, instead they delivered her into the hands of nondirective psychology. ...

Makena Clawson is a sophmore at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.  Here   she explains the unique female susceptibility to pornography, or what is unchaste, a phenomenon  grabbing attention due to women's obssession with Fifty Shades of Grey.. It has helped me  understand what women want much better, and corroborates  Catholic church teaching as discussed in my book's Chapter Three: Libido

The pope's recent message urges Catholics to do what, when I did, led to my writing of  my book, The Smoke of Satan in the Temple of God , to be published this fall.  Here is one more reason why one should read the documents. I discuss the prophetic nature of Humanae Vitae in Chapter 3 of my book ("Libido"). It seems one separatedbrother is open to  following in my stead! http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/2012/07/bachelorettes-and-humane-vitae

I have been keeping my eyes and ears peeled as to MOTIVE for the Aurora murders, but to date satisfactory explanation is nonexistent.  Having authored a book on the reality of spiritual warfare, I was glad to see a popular priest's blog take up where my suspicion lies....

What  is  the meaning of sex? Everyone in every time and place is interested in sex. Our own time is obsessed by it. One would think that a society obsessed by sex would understand it very well. But the truth is that obsession drives out understanding. We no longer understand even the common sense of sexuality, the things that were common knowledge in supposedly less enlightened times. Acclaimed philosopher J. Budziszewski remedies this problem. His wise, gracefully written book about the nature, meaning, and mysteries of sexuality restores lost wisdom, raising and answering such questions as: Does sex have to mean anything at all? What is the meaning of the sexual powers, of sexual differences, of sexual love, of sexual beauty, of sexual purity? Is sexuality “all about sex”? why does sexuality stir up such transcendent longings for something more than sex? On the Meaning of Sex   corrects the most prevalent errors about sex, particularly the errors of ...

As a Catholic educator I have observed over the years that, due to the ever-increasing secularization of American culture, many baptized Catholics appear not to live the life of discipleship, wherein it is not they who live, but Our Lord who lives in them. Why? As a result of sin, and “its instigator, the devil.” If ever there was one who believed in the devil’s existence, it was Our Lord, who called him “the ruler of this world.” We must remember, however, that while the spirit of anti-Christ has been with us since the dawn of history, our enemy is no more than a rebel angel whom God permits to test us. The Father never wills evil, but He does permit Satan to tempt us, just as he allowed the passion of His Son, through which He showed that regardless of the demonic action, God always attempts to bring a larger good out of our enemy’s apparent conquests.

2012-07-22 Vatican Radio (Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict spoke of his shock on Sunday in what he called “the senseless violence” that took place in Aurora Denver in which twelve people were killed and dozens of others injured when a gunman opened fire during a film screening this week. The Holy Father also expressed his sadness at the loss of life in the recent ferry disaster near Zanzibar in which at least 68 people died.  The Pope said he shared the distress of the families and friends of the victims and the injured, especially the children and he assured all of those affected by both tragedies his closeness in prayer. Pope Benedict was speaking after the recitation of the Angelus in the courtyard of the Papal summer residence at Castelgandolfo in the Roman hills, where he also had words of encouragement for those taking part in the upcoming Olympic Games in London. “I send greetings to the organizers, athletes and spectators alike, and I pray that, in the spirit of the Olympic T...

How the Virtual Eclipses the Real – As Seen in a Commercial The word virtual has become, for most people, a euphemism for the Internet, or the computer world; as in “occurring or existing primarily online.”  But the word virtual has an original meaning that is actually quite descriptive of a modern problem. Prior to its application to the computer world, the word virtual meant :  being something in effect, though not actually or expressly being such . In other words, it has aspects of the real thing, but is  not  the real thing. So, in the sentence.  He is a virtual goldmine of knowledge on the subject  one would be silly to look for physical gold mine or to think that he is either gold or a mine, or both.  There is no actual, no physical, goldmine. Rather his knowledge has aspects of a gold mine (value, worth, depth) but he is not an actual goldmine. The adverb, “virtually” means,   for the most part, almost . In other words, it is cl...

For why should I weep for thee, my most loving brother, who wast thus torn from me t hat th ou mightest be the brother of all? For I have not lost but  changed my intercourse with thee; before we were inseparable in body, now we are undivided in affection; for thou remainst with me and ever wilt remain. And indeed, whilst t hou wast living with me, our country never tore thee from me, nor didst thou thyself ever prefer our country to me; and now thou art become surety for that other country, for I begin to be no stranger there where the better portion of myself already is. I was never wholly engrossed in myself, but the greater part of each of us was in the other, yet we were each of us in Christ, in Whom is the whole sum of all and the portion of each severally. This grace is more pleasing to me than thy natal soil, in which is the fruit not of nature but of grace, for in that body which lies lifeless lies the better work of my life, since in this body, too, which I bear is the...

In my book I document how the Father of Lies pulls the wool over our eyes again and again when it comes to the Libido . What appears to be liberating is actually enslaving, as evidenced by the fruits of the behavior... see for yourself!

I just ran across an eminently wise reflection contra feminism in this noted Catholic mag ... Indeed, we are the weaker sex, but are made strong if we can boast in the crucified Lord!

I have written for those Catholics born and perhaps catechized before Vatican II or immediately thereafter who as yet are unaware of the true teaching of the Council. It should not surprise the reader that there are Catholics whose lifestyles do not differentiate them all that much from those who are not Catholic and/or Christian. Moreover, many Catholics of the “baby-boom” generation are alienated from the Church all together because their only exposure has been to a superficial, cultural Catholicism, impotent in the face of an American culture increasingly without faith. Conversely, many others have left the Church – hungrier, as they say, for a more “biblically-based church.” The book is also intended for young people of the “JP II” generation of Catholics, born long after the council but perhaps not fully aware of the turmoil spawned by dissent in the Church which, though on the wane, is still with us today. These young people, especially those in authentically Catholic college...

Halfway through reading Ross Douthat's Bad Religion , I wish to warn Catholic "progressives" that liberal Protestantism gives us a for-taste of what the Holy Spirit will always guard Christ's Church against- read it in the Times here.  See also Ross' blog at right.

There are real women who live according to their feminine genius, and then there are women addicted to the world, as evidenced here ....meet Dr. Meg Meeker!!  I thought the hoopla was over whether or not parents should spank kids, not each other:  http://instagram.com/p/NOOFVoEuAT/

I thannk the Lord I am currently at "low risk" here .

                                                Detroit's Blessed Sacrament Cathedral In the ensuing college years I drifted further and further away from the Church in true “prodigal son” fashion, often arguing with my mother over matters of faith. In college, I was approached by evangelicals asking, “Are you saved, brother?,” something they did not believe of me as long as I was Catholic. The norm would have been for this now-lukewarm Catholic to have been lured away from the Church, but baptismal grace proved me an exception.  Though I was not all that holy, I wasn’t about to become a Pentecostal! How Our Lord led me home is outside the scope of this endeavor; suffice it to say that there are rough parallels with St. Augustine. Upon returning to the Faith I was unable to find employment in my undergraduate field, history, and so volunteered to teach CCD...

I say, this is quite startling , isnt it?  I mean, really, ol' chap!!! The battle continues....

Having written about how secular social science has documented the sexualization of American culture, largely dating from the introduction of the Pill, it is hopeful to find stories such as the following in the mainstream media. Lara Johnson is a freelance writer who also recommends T he Price of Pleasure .

St. Eugene’s eventually closed in the Year of Our Lord 1989 due to “white flight” and demographic changes after the 1967 riots in Detroit, and with this the demise of the place where I spent some of the holiest years of my life, years in which neither I nor my classmates were ashamed to publicly give witness to our faith in Christ (yes, I too dressed in sheets and played the priest in acting out the Mass with my siblings). My memories of participation at Mass are glorious ones. There was a sense of the sacred that has since, through misimplementation of Sacrosanctum Concilium , long since evaporated at Mass. I graduated from St. Eugene’s in 1966, when the liturgical changes after the close of the council promulgated in Sacrosanctum Concilium to the best of my memory had not yet been thoroughly implemented. I journeyed off to Detroit Cathedral High School downtown, where my experience of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist began to fade, as I no longer was required to attend...

While I await publication of The Smoke of Satan in the Temple of God ., it is heartening to note the revival of traditional Christian teaching on the reality of sin in our world in the social communications media, as evidenced poignantly by this video!

The Gates of Hell Temporarily Prevail Lisa Correnti and Wendy Wright Editor’s Note: The Bill and Melinda Gates’ Family Planning Summit in the UK concluded yesterday, with staggering high-dollar commitments from nations and agencies all over the globe. C-FAM Director of Operations Lisa Correnti and activist Wendy Wright, working with pro-life watchdog Turtle Bay and Beyond , were present, keeping a sort of mini-journal of events. Here are some of their chilling reports: Today on World Population Day, government officials and charitable foundations have convened at the UK Family Planning summit co-sponsored by the Gates Foundation and DFID - the UK’s development aid program, to seek financial commitments to further implement population control efforts in developing countries. Government official after government official and spokespersons for billionaires foundations are all reading from the same script; family planning programs are necessary to save lives of poor wome...

  FROM THE DAD'S EULOGY FOR HIS SON: On Wednesday night, I think I may have confused Ethan.  After arriving to the ER and after being worked on by the trauma team, Kristen and I were pulled into a waiting room to be told that Ethan’s heart had stopped…..that Ethan had passed, and that there was nothing the doctors could do.  I immediately ran into the trauma room where I found Ethan’s naked body on the table.  I grabbed him by the arms and said “Ethan, your a little scrapper, you know how to fight, so fight for daddy, you have to come back, daddy says come back!”  In that immediate moment his heart started up again.  I think the confusion for Ethan was that as he was making his way to Jesus, he heard my voice calling to him.  His mind full of wonder was probably attracted to the beautiful light of God but the obedient boy that he is, he came back when he heard me.    At that very moment, Ethan’s ministry began.  I didn’t see it ...

I have just been informed of the death of a child of a friend's relative, and was referred to a blog the grieving Mom has put together. It is the best blog I have encountered, bar NONE. In all this hullabaloo over Fifty Shades , those who are reading the book ought to visit this blog, and tremble.

In the years prior to the Second Vatican Council, I also remember attending daily Mass before elementary school, which, because we had fasted for three hours, allowed us to eat breakfast in math class. I remember singing Tantum Ergo at Wednesday Evening Benediction, which I was in the habit of attending with my Mom, siblings and “Gramp,” (her Dad, John). I also remember looking forward to participating in the praying of that most sublime form of prayer, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, with my St. Joseph’s Daily Missal. With Pope Benedict’s having granted permission for priests to offer the Extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, we hear much ado in the form of reaction against this from Catholic “progressives,” and about how the Council placed a new emphasis on the laity’s participation at Mass, the implication being that Catholics did not actively participate at Mass prior to Vatican II, opting for such devotions as the praying of the Rosary or Holy Cards. To such persons I say, no...

Court rules against magazines vulgar portrayal of Pope : http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/court-rules-against-magazines-vulgar-portrayal-of-pope/ July 11, 2012 Bonn, Germany, Jul 11, 2012 / 04:10 pm ( CNA ).- A German magazine must stop publishing its latest issue, which depicts Pope Benedict XVI in a urine- and feces-stained cassock, a district court in Hamburg ruled on June 10. The German Bishops' Conference, which took legal action against “Titanic” magazine with the permission of the Vatican's Secretary of State, welcomed the decision. Conference spokesman Matthias Kopp said the image “oversteps every measure of decency.” On the front cover of its July issue, Titanic mocked the Pope, and the recent “Vatileaks” scandal  involving security breaches and confidential documents, with an image that showed him wearing urine-stained clothing. The headline read: “Hallelujah in the Vatican: The leak has been found!” The image on the back cover had been alt...

Here is a list of 12 blogs worth reading. So sorry I have not made the list... (LOL). There is always hope.  Do I detect a note of uncharity in some circles from reading the comments?  Thank Our Lord for the Sacrament of confession!

Teresa Tomeo, noted author and Catholic radio host, has asked that this post be shared ,  a request I am only too happy to grant here. What is occurring here is Satan’s attempt to transmit to man his own rebellion,” i.e., the attitude with which he--Satan--has identified and by which he has, in consequence, placed himself outside the truth, outside the law of dependence on the Creator. Indeed, the original temptation of mankind marked the beginning of a long process which has wound its devious ways throughout subsequent human history. Have nothing to do with the Dragon.

 It is with great joy that I encountered the following news ! The family that prays together STAYS together!

Catholic women aren't all reading Fifty Shades. I am praying that this webinar bears much fruit.

Like many of the twenty-five percent or so of the American people who would respond with “Roman Catholic” when asked their religion in an emergency room, I am a “cradle Catholic,” born into an Irish-American family in Detroit as a baby boomer in 1952, baptized at St. Gabriel’s on the southwest side in the same year. I first received the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in second grade at St. Eugene’s parish in northwest Detroit, for which the Sisters of Notre Dame DeNamur admirably prepared me. I still stand amazed at the reverence instilled in the second-graders in the black-and-white photos shot by my father, Don, that day. I was also confirmed at St. Eugene’s parish in the fourth grade, after which my mother, Ann, took me out for my favorite breakfast, strawberry pancakes, where I played “Fun, Fun, Fun” by the Beach Boys at least twice. Since my return and faithful assent to all that the Catholic Church teaches in 1995, I have been a regula...

The "Fifty Shades" erotic trilogy is expected to hit the 20 million-sales mark in the U.S. this week, making it one of the fastest-selling book series in my memory.  In spite of my warnings to  have nothing to do with the Dragon, women are fantasizing about having a man inflict pain on them! Here they are....

Well, I have been following the media response to Bad Religion , (search this blog), and was pleased to seee that the Catholic News Service has picked up on it.

For those mommies still reading Fifty Shades , might I suggest a follow up? The book is  Style, Sex, and Substance: 10 Catholic WomenConsider the Things that Really Matter   . Also watch trailer: http://vimeo.com/37515830     A review: I recently read Style, Sex and Substance, a book featuring short essays about...style, sex and substance from ten Catholic women. The contributors will be familiar to anyone familiar with the Catholic blogosphere and include the likes of Hallie Lord, Jennifer Fulwiler, Simcha Fisher, Daniel Bean and Barabara Nicolosi. There essays confront important issues like how to approach sex (yes, with your spouse), what it means to be a Catholic woman in the world today and how to engage the culture we live in. For those who picture Catholics as having a bunker mentality, they will be surprised Without giving anything away, these essays do not encourage the exclusive use of the missionary position, treating the house like a cloistered co...

I see the recent Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon much as when I wrote about the fact that of late, on several Catholic College campuses it has been possible to attend a performance of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues , a play which, among “celebrations” of the female experience of the vagina, contains a “romantic” scene, where a 24-year-old woman seduces a 13-year-old girl. The woman invites the girl into her car, takes her to her house, supplies her with vodka, and seduces her, calling the experience “a kind of heaven.” (One wonders what outcry would occur if priests with same-sex attractions were to come to the defense of the play). It is surely reasonable to argue that these phenomena are the result of a turning away from traditional Catholic sexual moral teaching, revealed by God for our health and well-being. This rebellion has as its fruit not “liberation” but widespread suffering : the spiraling number of STDs, the millions of abortions, unintended sterility, global porno...

It has been my experience that when people take issue with Catholic teaching, rarely does it concern the Hypostatic Union, the Vatican’s guidelines on road rage, or the Vatican Conference on Extraterrestrial Life. No, those things with which they take issue bear directly or vicariously on their sexual lives — homosexuality, same-sex “marriage,” premarital sex, adultery, contraception, masturbation, population control, abortion, divorce, remarriage,  in vitro  fertilization, etc. Thus I hear in the news these days that  Fifty Shades of Grey  is being read by Catholic women’s book clubs, and by Catholic women in general. And I thought it was only we men who were addicted to the occasional foray (via the internet) into the darkness….. To those Christians who see nothing wrong with the  Shades  trilogy, remember Our Lord’s words on this: "What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thought...

As my book concerns misreadings of the Second Vaticam Council, and much spin put upon conciliar documents, this piece on the TRUE John XXIII is of great interest....

And now, a little story on complementarity as stated in Genesis.... A woman was on a first date with a man. As they drove in the car to their destination of a nice restaurant,  the conversation was lively and they found they had much in common. They were already enjoying one another's company very much. Once the car was parked the man got out and began to walk toward the door of the restaurant. He took several steps before he noticed that his date was not next to him. Where was she? He looked around, confused,  and then retraced his steps to find her sitting exactly as he had left her- in the car. She was smiling and patiently waiting….for him to come around her side of the car and open the door. "She knew what kind of man I was," he later told my friend, "and that I had just momentarily forgotten that. From then on, I did not forget again."

Tom Cruise is one of most high-profile Scientologists in the U.S., and convinced Katie Holmes to convert to the religion before their wedding in 2005. At first, reports The Daily Beast, Holmes was game, even allowing a church representative to accompany her to a W magazine shoot soon after her coupling with Cruise, and refusing to answer any question the representative didn't approve of. But she eventually became exasperated with the restrictive religion, and "reportedly hadn't been seen inside a Scientology Church for some time." She even enrolled her daughter, Suri, in a Catholic preschool. People Magazine says her parents "wanted the old Katie back." Now they can have her. Have nothing more to do with the Dragon.

The final chapter to my soon-to-be published book- The Smoke of Satan in the Temple of God - is centered around the new evangelization, and so I was glad to run across this article on...BLOGGING as a way to evangelize!

In light (or dark?) of the Fifty Shades of Grey bewilderment, I think it time catechesis on the dignity of women be emphasized every chance one gets.  Alexandra Richards reminds us that women are a threat to his mission of the destruction of souls. But not if they are his property. The following  warrants  prayerful  thought : To Women: Be What God Made You You don’t need to read Genesis to see that God created men and He created women, but have you ever asked yourself why he created you a woman and not a man? We live in a time where gender is as interchangeable as ketchup and mustard, where men dress up as women and women dress up as men. We are having an identity crisis, and it’s time to find out why God created you the way He did. God created your feminine heart to give and to receive true love. Yet, why is your heart is daily torn apart by a culture that is blinded to your indispensable dignity? We need only look at how the contraceptive industry n...