How is the fight vs . sexual violence and alcohol use faring at our Catholic colleges? Same old same old. BUT- technology is being used to help our young think about these behaviors!

From time to time on these pages, given that the sex instinct, as Paul VI reminded us in 1972, is a major way the Devil wreaks havoc with souls, I like to document "success stories," i.e., stories that show that indeed, Jesus has "overcome the world." In this interview , we read Fr. Vincent Serapa, O.P.'s interview with Jason, a courageous man who tells of how he left the homosexual lifestyle. It makes for thought-provoking reading.

Just ran across this video which I thought was interesting, given t he Holy Father's defense of traditional Marriage....

 In 1967 the Church near my place of employment was built. Whenever driving by it, perhaps a bit irreverently I allowed the image of Margaret Hamilton's "Wicked Witch of the West" hat to come to mind. Its interior always struck me as dark, barren, like a giant sauna. It has been gutted and is undergoing extensive reconstruction as I write. Fr. Longenecker has written for Our Sunday Visitor that the architects back in 1967 must have lost God's blueprint for building Catholic Churches....

Clothe your faithful people in the armor of salvation   and shield them from the deceptions of the devil.            -Intercession from Vespers for Friday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time In my book I noted how Sacred Scripture views the struggle against the prince of this world in military terms, as we are indeed in a war, a war against spiritual forces that can only be defeated with the help of the Holy Spirit, with the grace that comes with death to self. With this help we can put up armor to shield us from the Devil's deceptions, such as the one many have been fooled by, thinking that by commission of the sin of cohabitation, one can better prepare for Holy Matrimony! Read Ruth's story....

As a teacher in a Catholic school, from time to time I have had Muslim students "shadow," or visit the learning environment, to to whom I generally remark, "Muslims honor Mary, Jesus mother, don't they?" To which they point out that Muhammad's daughter was named Fatima, the place of Our Blessed Mothers' apparition. In his The World's First Love , Fulton Sheen offers an interesting reflection which I believe is relevant for the immediate future, given the  Jihadist threat : The Koran, which is the Bible of the Moslems, has many passages concerning the Blessed Virgin. First of all , the Koran believes in her Immaculate Conception, and also, in her Virgin Birth…..The Koran also has verses on the Annunciation, Visitation, and Nativity. Angels are pictured as accompanying the Blessed Mother and saying, Oh Mary, God has chosen you and purified you, and elected you above all the women of the earth. In the 19th chapter of the Koran there are 41 verses...

Here is a fine article by Pat Archbold on what could be done that would greatly develop a greater sense of the transcendent at Mass, an experience woefully missing since promulgation of the Mass of Paul VI, in common parlance the Novus Ordo . These steps are totally in accordance with Sacrosanctum Concilium , the Vatican II document on the Liturgy. In fact they are what Vatican II intended for the Mass, but were never implemented, as implementation of Sacrosanctum concilium was hijacked by a papal commission stacked with neomodernists. No, these steps would not render the Mass a "pre-Vatican II Latin Mass," though it must be said that there is a renaissance of the Extraordinary form throughout the world. They would merely bring to being  the liturgy  that Vatican II intended.

I  t is well-known that the traditional family, the foundation of any thriving culture, is under attack from secular forces seeking its demise. Thus I wish to pass on news of t he  Relationships in America  survey project, a large new data collection effort that seeks to understand how American adults navigate and think about the significant relationships in their lives, especially romantic ones. The project asks a variety of questions to divorcees, examining the reasons for splitting and divorcees’ experiences of dating after divorce. Using data from the  study,  Austin Institute sociologist Mark Regnerus  analyzed regular churchgoers and separated them into two groups: those who support same-sex “marriage” and those who do not.  When he compared their answers on other issues having to do with sexual morality, he found that the group supporting same-sex “marriage” was more likely across the board to agree with the foll...

A s the traditional family is the building block of a healthy civilization, and as the family is now under attack by numerous secular forces in violation of the right of God, I blog occasionally on the destructive effects of one of these adverse spiritual forces, pornography, on souls as well as the family. We are blessed to have Donny Pauling , an ex-pornography producer prior to his conversion to Our Lord, who has devoted himself to making amends for the damage he openly admits his previous vocation has caused. For one who doubts that one can suffer the unfaithfulness of a spouse addicted to pornography, the following letter dispels the error: Hello Donny, I first want to say that I just found your blog yesterday and I sat and wept at my kitchen table as I began to read the entries, one at a time from start to finish. You have chosen such an amazing journey and I have NO doubt that God will co...

I n his first encyclical, Summi pontificatus , Pope Pius XII reflected on the catastrophe about to envelope the European continent as Adolph Hitler began the invasion of Catholic Poland: "What calamities could be averted, what happiness and tranquility assured, if the social and international forces working to establish peace would let themselves be permeated by the deep lessons of the Gospel of Love in their struggle against individual or collective egoism!" The Pope then cited Jesus’ reaction as he wept over Jerusalem, a verse drawn from the gospel for today in the traditional liturgical calendar: "Our pastoral heart looks on with sorrow and foreboding, the Image of the Good Shepherd comes up before Our gaze, and it seems as though We ought to repeat to the world in His name: ' And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, saying, Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! [i.e., the lessons of the Gospel of Love] But ...

O n social media I am constantly told that Our Lord would have no problem with so-called “same-sex marriage.” After all, the gospels do not report Jesus directly condemning homosexual acts. However,to argue on this basis that He approved of sodomy is defective reasoning. Stating that “Jesus is not against it so he must be for it” bases its conclusion on a supposed lack of evidence to the contrary, instead of on the existence of any indication one way or the other. Lack of evidence proves nothing. Because the gospels do not have a record of Jesus doing something does not mean that he did not do it. It is most likely the evangelists did not record it; as is well known, the gospels do not contain everything Jesus taught and did, as St. John states in Jn 21:25: “But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written”. Remember too that almost nothing is said about...

Julie Rodgers I have included in this lowly blog stories of people with  homosexual orientation who have come to understand that being "sexually active" is most certainly not the preferred lifestyle for them. Here is another entry in this genre. Kudos to the Post for telling here story.

In the 1980's I used to play the electric guitar at Holy Mass (sacrilegious, I know), and I have to admit, we played James Taylor's "Shower the people you love with love" at the sign of peace! Such goings on as took place during this portion of the Mass made for a situation that, even after I ceased being part of "folk masses," always made me uneasy and caused me to lose focus prior to reception of Our Lord's Body and Blood. Apparently, Il Santissimo Padre has also noticed that this is a problem. Read more.

Back in June of this year I wrote about Pope Francis' view of Gender identity : " Gender ideology is demonic!’”   said the Holy Father. One thinks of this statement wonders what the New York Times  thinks of t his statement by  a Pope they admire after running this piece on gender identity . The article tells of how  there are not only man and woman, but also other ‘genders;' furthermore: every person can choose his or her gender . Fr. Longenecker stands this on its head: " Well, call me old fashioned, but remember  Humanae Vitae?  The underlying teaching was a defense of the essentials of human sexuality. Basically “sex is for babies” and if you separate sex from babies all sorts of monstrous things will come about. When sex becomes more about recreation than pro creation people become confused about what sex is for, and if they’re confused about what sex is for, then they soon become confuse...

Catholic parents are often shocked and deeply troubled when they discover a son or daughter has been viewing homosexual pornography or when they are informed by an adolescent son or daughter that they are homosexual. Having studied the vast pastoral ministry and research of Fr. John Harvey of Courage, I have long been convinced that the homosexual orientation in the male is something altogether different than that of the female sex. Here is an enlightening look at why this is so.