My Intended Audience

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 colleges (Franciscan, Christendom, Aquinas, Ave Maria, etc.) will be the Church of the 21^st century, and in my experience have an interest in this recent history of the Church.

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"The Spirit of Vatican II"

My advice to one confronted with doubt sown by those who make reference to “correct interpretations of Vatican II” is to reflect closely upon the words of John Paul II: With the Council, the Church first had an experience of faith, as she abandoned herself to God without reserve, as one who trusts and is certain of being loved. It is precisely this act of abandonment to God which stands out from an objective examination of the Acts. Anyone who wished to approach the Council without considering this interpretive key would be unable to penetrate its depths. Only from a faith perspective can we see the Council event as a gift whose still hidden wealth we must know how to mine . In short, it is this abandonment, this interpretive faith perspective that is woefully lacking in many who would offer to explain what the Council taught in “the spirit of Vatican II.” Watch here to see what abandonment looks like!

Bergoglio and Montini

In an earlier post I noted a similarity between the current Pope and Pope Paul VI. Soon the Holy Father, Pope Francis will decide whether or not to approve communion for the divorced and remarried. The Pope’s decision will come at the end of 2015 or at the beginning of 2016, under pressure of a public opinion that at that point is likely to be almost exclusively expecting a yes. As I discussed in my book, this is much the same as the pressure for change in the licentious decade of the 1960's, when Paul VI had to decide on the legitimacy of contraceptives, with many theologians, bishops, and cardinals in favor. As is now legendary, in 1968 Paul VI decided against in his encyclical, Humanae vitae , an encyclical that suffered bitter contestation on the part of whole episcopates, and disobedience from countless among the faithful. Always the Pope to do the unforeseen, he will take Paul VI’s encyclical as his frame of reference, as stated in a March 5 interview with...

Libido Redux: Robotics

LOVE MACHINE Humans could become addicted to mind-blowing romps with SEX ROBOTS, according to expert Interested in this whole raunchy robot thing? Approach with caution, is the warning BY HANNAH FERRETT 4th September 2016, 10:53 am We’ve already reported on claims that teenagers could soon be losing their virginity to the mechanical love machines , with scientists also said to be working on robot sex brothel to cut the risk of STIs . GETTY IMAGES - FILMMAGIC This could be the future But now comes the warning – according to a expert in the field, we’ll need to be careful we don’t get addicted to artificial intelligence love making. Joel Snell is an American Research Fellow from Kirkwood College, and he’s told the Daily Star there’s a real risk linked to the robots. That’s because they’ll offer great sex at any time of the day and night. GETTY IMAGES We’ve been warned to be careful how we use sex robots There’...

Parent Trap? No, Cohabitation Trap!

And here I thought people were wising up to the fact that living together in sin before marriage wasn't leading to human fulfillment and bliss, and then to come across Mr. Johnston'e piece: The Co-Habitation Trap GEORGE SIM JOHNSTON There's no such thing as a trial marriage. Recently, a college classmate told me that her 25-year-old son has a girlfriend about whom he can't make up his mind. The couple have been going together for two years. He is serious about the girl, thinks she'd make a good wife, but tells his mother that he's not sure about taking the plunge. Should he propose? Should he take more time to think about it? Maybe date other girls to gain perspective? The son is at a loss. My friend is generally a sensible person, and she gave her son what she thinks is good advice: why not move in with her and see how it goes? In other words, do a trial marriage. If the sharing of bed and board goes smoothly, then tie t...

The Smoke of Satan in the Temple of God

In my first Chapter I discuss at length a phenomenon which the Holy Father in a recent audience recalled like it was yesterday: the true and false Second Vatican Councils: "I would now like to add another point: there was the Council of the fathers - the true Council - but there was also the Council of the media. It was almost a Council unto itself, and the world perceived the Council through these, through the media. "Therefore the Council that immediately and efficiently arrived to the people was that of the media, not that of the fathers. And while the Council of the fathers was realized within the faith, and was a Council of the faith that seeks 'intellectus,' that seeks to understand itself and seeks to understand the signs of God at that moment, that seeks to respond to the challenge of God at that moment and to find in the word of God the word for today and tomorrow, while the whole Council - as I have said - was moving within the faith, as ''...

Libido Redux: Tindering Unhinged

.... as serious sin, in Paul’s thinking became the occasion and the effect of interference by the “hidden enemy who sows errors,” who undermines our moral equilibrium — the Devil. In Paul’s teaching The Devil is the clever tempter who makes his way into man through the sensual, the libido, a “crack” through which the Evil One attempts to prevail .... -from The Smoke of Satan in the Temple of God “ Some people still catch feelings in hook-up culture.” Of all the depressing lines spoken by young adults in the article “Tinder and the Dawn of the ‘Dating Apocalypse’ in the September issue of Vanity Fair, that one takes the cake. Meredith, a sophomore at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky., explains that “It’s not like just blind f—ing for pleasure and it’s done; some people actually like the other p...

Do Not Be Ashamed

T he demeaning and of Pope Benedict is quickening in combination with the growing exaltation of Pope Francis in the secular world and among the "progressive" dissidents within the Church. Thus I believe a little review of his Pontificate is in order, as the signs of the times required him to shoulder a heavy cross and suffer a quiet type of crucifixion due to his exceptional faith and courageous writings and actions. Pope Benedict took strong, long overdue and very necessary actions against moral corruption within the clergy, the religious orders and within Catholic aid agencies. He appointed many bishops faithful to the true Vatican II, and removed many who were a cause of scandal to the Church. He took actions on the liturgy and other issues that were not popular, but which he saw as essential to preserving Catholicism and Christian culture much as laid down in his The Spirit of the Liturgy. The full story of his papacy remains to be told. “And blessed is he who ...

A Pope for Our Times?

ROSS DOUTHAT AS I have noted in these posts, one of the brightest stars on the Catholic front is NYT Times columnist Ross Douthat . Ross writes of late that full Catholics, those who adhere to the teachings of the Church, all of them, can maintain their faith vs. modernity “only to the extent that you separate yourself from the American and Western mainstream,” or submit to the culture at large. He sees no middle position, which in my mind describes most Catholics today, cultural “cafeteria” Catholics who attend Mass when it behooves them, have “issues with Catholic teaching,” and do not live so as to distinguish themselves all that much from what Ross styles the “mainstream.” Ross argues that it is in this present situation that the Holy Father is relevant, as the exhilaration around his papacy is a reply to Francis’ desire to engage the “lapsed-Catholic, post-Catholic and non-Catholic world.” In the Church the Holy Father’s desire centers around the “new evangelization,” ...

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