Royal Wedding: One-Half American

Well, folks, the Royal Wedding-watchers were treated to British tradition, yes, as seen in my favorite musical portion and in the hats (especially the Duchess of Cornwall's) But three was a decidedly American flavor to the event, as seen in the marvelous rendition of Stand by Me, and by a sermon now trending on Twitter by American Episcopalian Bishop Curry, which, sadly, lost its thunder in the peroration:

French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was arguably one of the great minds, great spirits of the 20th century. Jesuit, Roman Catholic priest, scientist, a scholar, a true mystic. Some of his writings from his scientific background as well as his theological one, some of his writings said, as others have said, that the discovery and harnessing of fire was one of the great technological discoveries of human history. Fire, to a great extent, made human civilization possible. Fire made it possible to cook food and to provide sanitary ways of eating, which reduced the spread of disease in its time. Fire made it possible to heat warm environments and thereby marking human migration a possibility even into colder climates. Fire made it possible — there was no Bronze Age without fire, no Iron Age without fire, no Industrial Revolution without fire. … Anybody get here in a car today? An automobile? Nod your heads if you did; I know there were some carriages. Those of us who came in cars, the controlled, harnessed fire made that possible.

I know that the Bible says, and I believe it that Jesus walked on water, but I have to tell you I didn’t walk across the Atlantic Ocean to get here. Controlled fire in that plane got me here. Fire makes it possible for us to text, and tweet, and email, and Instagram, and Facebook, and socially be dysfunctional with each other. Fire makes that possible, and de Chardin said fire was one of the great discoveries in all of human history. He went on to say if humanity ever harnesses the energy of fire again, if humanity ever captured the energies of love, it will be the second time in the history that will have discovered fire.

Why, oh why did the eminent Rev. Curry mention De Chardin in the same sermon which offered these truths:

We were made by a power of love. Our lives were meant and are meant to be lived in that love. That’s why we are here. Ultimately the source of love is God himself. The source of all of our lives.

There’s an old medieval poem that says: “Where true love is found, God himself is there.” The New Testament says it this way. “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; And those who love are born of God and know God. Those who not love does not know God. Why? For God is love.”

What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem? Just take a closer look at Teilhard. Those of the “New Age” movement have latched on to many of his ideas, and he has even been dubbed “Father of the New Age Movement.”

Comments

This video of a young boy twerking at Pride has homophobes outraged | Gay Star News

DANCING WITH MR. D: This video of a young boy twerking at Pride has homophobes outraged | Gay Star News : 'via Blog this'

Snakes Return to the Emerald Isle

As a history teacher I am fond of pointing out to my classes examples of how the Evil One working with his compatriots have attempted to drive Catholicism from the public sphere and out of existence altogether. The Body of Christ is still here, but that doesn't mean that the historically ignorant will not continue trying. Catholics have Our Lord’s promise that the gates of Hell will not prevail over the Church. But the hellish gates always want another crack at the Church. Let’s start with the Roman Empire - not content with the crucifixion of Christ, they persecuted and killed his disciples for hundreds of years. Emperors came and went and all sorts of policies and goals changed but one thing they all had in common was that they all seemed to think killing and persecuting Catholics was a good thing. The more the Church was persecuted, the more people wanted to know what the Church was about. The blood of the martyrs was seed for the faith. As the saying goes, if y...

Truth Sets Homosexual Man Free

News Briefs/Rss | Catholic World Report - Global Church news and views : 'via Blog this'

Dancing With Mr. D: Grooming the Little Children

A former pro-transgender activist said she regretted her previous work in pro-transgender activism, adding she felt she was "indoctrinated" on gender ideology in an interview with Fox News Digital. "I started to realize that what I had been doing at my job at the LGBT Center, it was grooming," Kay Yang, a former employee of a location in New York, said. Grooming in this context means "to get into readiness for a specific objective." Kay works as a 'deprogrammer' to help parents and children who have been 'indoctrinated' by the 'cult-like' transgender agenda. Yang herself previously went by they/them and worked as a 'trans educator' in schools for years. Listen to her testimony.

Thou Shalt Not Spin

Ruminating on excerpts from John Allen’s one year review of the pontificate of Pope Francis (in red): Many Points of Praise for Pope’s First Year By John L. Allen Jr. GLOBE STAFF MARCH 12, 2014 ….In the year since, Pope Francis has electrified the world with his taste for the improbable: his spurning of the papal apartment, his resolutely informal personal style, his startling words, such as his instantly immortal “Who am I to judge?” line on gays. Quite right! Who are we to judge anyone? He’s popular at the Catholic grass roots and may be the most celebrated pontiff ever in non-Catholic venues, and even some secular circles where criticism of the papacy is much more common than praise. I rejoice at this, and pray that the world will listen to all of Francis, even the hard sayings…. Symbolically, Francis, 77, has changed the narrative about Catholicism. Substantively, he has taken bold steps toward reform and reoriented the church toward the political an...

Truth Always Seeks Its Revenge

Homosexuality ‘Natural’? Studies Prove Otherwise : 'via Blog this'

Tolkein, Paul VI, and the Devil

In 1941, Tolkien wrote a masterful letter to his son Michael, dealing with marriage and the realities of human sexuality. The letter reflects Tolkien's Christian worldview and his deep love for his sons, and at the same time, also acknowledges the powerful dangers inherent in unbridled sexuality. From the letter: This is a fallen world…. the dislocation of sex-instinct is one of the chief symptoms of the Fall. The world has been 'going to the bad' all down the ages. The various social forms shift, and each new mode has its special dangers: but the 'hard spirit of concupiscence' has walked down every street, and sat leering in every house, since Adam fell….The devil is endlessly ingenious, and sex is his favorite subject. He is as good every bit at catching you through generous romantic or tender motives, as through baser or more animal ones. Tolkien advised his young son that the sexual fantasies of the 20th century were demonic lies, intended to ensnare u...

George Weigel has just published a proposed blueprint for the “New Evangelization,” entitled Evangelical Catholicism which, to the extent that it is read will greatly amplify the New Evangelization, i.e., t he Church’s duty everywhere and at all times to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was Pope Paul VI who in Evangelii Nuntiandi observed that the work of evangelization was so necessary because of the de- Christianization of the twilight year of the 20 th century. Pope Montini noted the multitudes of baptized Catholics living lives that did not distinguish them all that much from those ignorant of the Gospel; also those who, while ignorant of the full gospel, nevertheless had faith and lived according to the natural moral law, and Catholics who desired a more heartfelt relationship with Jesus Christ not given emphasis in the catechesis they received as children. His successor Pope John Paul II said that his predecessor’s use of “New Evangelizati...

Francis: Liberal Catholic? Conservative Catholic? or Roman Catholic?

Fr. Richard McBrien But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men? For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely men? -1 Corinthians 3; 1-4 IN THE SMOKE OF SATAN, I WROTE: "Lest we forget...

Land O' Lakes and the University of Our Lady

In my chapter on Catechesis I did not discuss Catholic Higher Education, as I had not the competence to contribute beyond Catholic priest and famed sociologist Msgr. George Kelly's https://www.amazon.com/battle-American-church-George-Anthony/dp/0385174330 COMMENTARY | JUL. 20, 2017 The Spirit of Land O’Lakes: A Recent Student’s Perspective COMMENTARY: Part of a Register Symposium Jonathan Liedl I can’t help but get defensive when confronted with overstatements about the demise of the University of Notre Dame, my alma mater. After all, my Catholic faith blossomed on Our Lady’s campus, nurtured by friendships with well-formed Catholic peers living out their faith with joy and fidelity. At precisely the moment when the simplistic worldview of my youth was beginning to falter under the pressure of existential questioning, these friends witnessed to me the beauty and satisfaction of a life wholly Catholic. I have similar sentiments for another oft-maligned Ca...

Search This Blog